Tuesday, May 31, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.
Henderson has narrowed the search for its next police chief to 10 candidates, from an original group of 80 that "ran from the East Coast to the West Coast."
Ted Cooper, Henderson's manager of employment and compensation, said the names of the candidates or their positions won't be released to protect their privacy.
Five of the candidates are from either Texas or California, and the others are divided among four states, Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona.
Henderson Councilman Jack Clark, who has spent his career in law enforcement, said its better for the city that the chief finalists are from Western states. Politics plays more of a role in East Coast police departments where chiefs field calls on a regular basis from elected officials, he said. He said Western law enforcement administrators are more apt to be closer to the community and that philosophy trickles down to officers.
Most of the 10 finalists aren't chiefs of police but work in high administrative positions in departments, Cooper said. A decision will be made by early next week whether there will be an 11th finalist whose application is still being reviewed.
On Thursday, the city's human resources' department narrowed a list of 27 candidates to 10 that will be brought in for interviews by three panels on June 27. Those panels, which won't include members from Henderson's police unions, will rank the candidates, and as many as five finalists will be interviewed the following day by City Manager Phil Speight.
Eighty people applied for the job to replace Chief Michael Mayberry, who retired April 1. They included candidates ranging from New York City to Los Angeles and from Minnesota to Texas, according to Assistant City Manager Mark Calhoun. No one applied from Henderson.
That list of 80 was trimmed recently to 29 candidates, who were sent questionnaires. Only 27 of those candidates returned the questionnaires, which were reviewed by the human resources' staff to determine the 10 finalists, Cooper said. None of the 80 applicants were women.
"Right now we are well satisfied with the applicants we received," Calhoun said. "We had candidates with doctorates. There was a lot of diversity. We got candidates from all over the country and different backgrounds and organizations. They ran from the East Coast to the West Coast, and there were a number of chiefs, assistant chiefs and commanders."
The Henderson job, which pays up to $146,819 a year, was expected to attract dozens of experienced candidates to a state that has no income tax and is already prime retirement location for law enforcement officers.
In its brochure advertising the job, Henderson called an ideal chief someone who has a "can-do attitude," is persistent, encourages input, can provide effective positive and motivational leadership and is politically astute without being political.
The job requires a bachelor's degree, 15 years of experience in law enforcement and five years of full-time management. Having a master's degree and FBI training is considered desirable.
Calhoun said narrowing candidates from resumes and then questionnaires was difficult and that a lot will be learned during the panel interviews.
"People can be creative on paper, but now comes the real test because they have to think and act," Calhoun said. "We can observe them and see what they said on paper is what they are actually showing us to be real."
The three panels that will evaluate the candidates on June 27 are expected to have at least four members each. One panel will be made up of law enforcement professionals, a second will have Henderson department heads and the third panel community and business leaders. The law enforcement panel will include a Colorado consultant who is a former police chief.
The panels will rank the candidates to help determine a list of finalists to be interviewed by Speight. He makes the selection that must be ratified by the City Council.
The one group conspicuously absent from the panels is the Henderson Police Officers Association. The group will only get to meet the candidates and ask them questions but won't be involved in the selection process.
"At this point we are just happy to get invited in to see who they are looking at," said union president Cliff Robotham. "We still have some strength. If we feel they are moving in the wrong direction, we can go to the city manager and give our opinion to him or go to the City Council."
Calhoun said the union should meet the candidates, but they shouldn't be involved in the selection process.
"It isn't appropriate for them to decide whose going to be their boss," Calhoun said.
Bill Ames, president of the Peace Officers Association of Nevada, said leaving officers out of the the selection process can create an environment of mistrust. He said Reno officers were involved in the selection of a new chief.
"When the association is involved, it creates a better feeling of trust with the new chief and that creates a better working environment," Ames said.
Clark said he understands why officers would want a say but agrees with the decision to leave them out of the process.
"As a cop, I would want to be there," Clark said. "But I think it needs to be an objective process. The officers have a bias for someone who will help them. We need someone who will not only support them but help the city and the community."
Robotham said the union will be looking to have more of a voice in the future. He said officers want the new chief to be someone who will work with the union as a team.
"I would like to see a chief that is straight forward and somebody who can work with the unions and bring us in on the planning stages," said Robotham without elaborating. "Where this department is going at this time, we don't have those kind of relations."
Robotham said it will be interesting for the new chief because of the political environment they will be working. The deputy police chief, Richard Perkins, is the Assembly speaker and likely candidate for governor in the Democratic primary. He could face Mayor Jim Gibson, another potential Democratic candidate, Robotham said.
archive
