City Manager Selects Finalists for Chief of Police
Reminder: The public is invited to attend a public forum to meet and address all three candidates on Tuesday, May 13th at the Blake Hotel @ 555 S. McDowell Street. A candidate reception starts at 6 pm- immediately followed by individual candidate forums.
City Manager Curt Walton announced today that three finalists from a candidate pool of 47 applicants have been selected for consideration as the next Chief of Police for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD).
The Chief of Police serves as the leader and director of CMPD, which has been recognized as a national leader and innovator in policing. The Police Chief leads a department of more than 2,100 employees, with 1,638 sworn officers and 468 civilian positions, and manages a $174 million budget. CMPD has focused efforts on making Charlotte-Mecklenburg a safer place by establishing problem-solving partnerships and expanding police services.
Finalists were recruited and selected through a comprehensive process managed by The Waters Consulting Group that included national advertising and Web site recruitment page in addition to public input into the development of a Police Chief profile; focus groups with CMPD Command Staff, community and business leaders; elected officials surveys; assessments; panel interviews and site visits.
With experience ranging from 22 years to 28 years in policing, law enforcement, administration, operations and technology, the finalists for CMPD Chief of Police are:
- Deputy Chief Jerry Sennett, Deputy Chief of CMPD: a consolidated city-county department, he is responsible for several different divisions, including Support Services and Field Services. Sennett supervises service area majors, who oversee such specialized units as the Transit Policing Unit, Special Events, Secondary Employment and the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Law Enforcement. He implemented COMPSTAT, a system for managing police operations by pinpointing locations, methods and perpetrators of crime, allowing CMPD to improve service throughout its 13 patrol districts. Sennett was promoted to Deputy Chief in 2004. He joined CMPD in 1979.
- Deputy Police Chief Alan Dreher, Atlanta Police Department: Dreher is responsible for the daily operations of the largest municipal law enforcement agency in the State of Georgia. Since 2002, he has managed the Criminal Investigations Division, Field Operations, Support Services, the Division of Taxicabs and Vehicles for Hire and the Field Inspections Section. Prior to working in Atlanta, he served 23 years with the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department where he rose to the rank of Deputy Chief, during which he was responsible for police service at Capitol Hill, The White House, and the Downtown District.
- Police Chief Rodney Monroe, Richmond Police Department: Since 2004, Monroe has served as Police Chief of the City of Richmond where he created a dedicated homicide unit and started the Cooperative Violence Reduction Partnership (CVRP) with prosecutorial and correctional agencies. During his tenure as Police Chief, homicides were reduced by 33 percent. He began his policing career in 1979 as a police officer with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, rising to Assistant Chief of Police, the department’s second highest sworn rank. He also served as Chief of Police in Macon, GA for five years.
The new Chief of Police will be named before June 1, 2008.
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22 Comments:
PLEASE do not pick someone from within CMPD! The talking heads of that department will only continue the mess that we are in.
Get someone with a big foot, tremedous "kahooonies" and that does not put up with the thugs running the city. Someone that will get on the media and complain when the thugs are let loose before his Officers are done with the paperwork. Thugs take kindness (hugs) as a weekness. Kick some ass and take some names, maybe it will be safe to walk the streets again and the people of Charlotte Meck will again feel safe in their own homes..
Why do we want to bring someone in from City's with more prolbems than we already have? Is the City Leaders saying that CMPD doesn't have a more Competent person to raise up from within the rank? I would Love to here form CMPD Officers on who they want. I remember one saying they Need a Cops Cop. One that already knows what CMPD is up against. Already proven that the within choice isn"t that?
Arpio anyone?....
Actually Jerry Sennett would be an excellent choice. The problem that we have had in the past (since the mid 1990s) is that we have hired from outside. An outside chief coming in knows little about his "new" department but knows how to fix the department that he came from. What is good for Atlanta and Richmond doesn't automatically equate with what is good for Charlotte. By the time the new chief from the outside learns what the root of the real problem is (i.e being able to discern perception vs reality) a year or so has passed. Chief Stephens philosophy was top-down driven..he did not take dissent very well. To categorize all inside candidates as cut from the same cloth as Stephens is asinine. Most CMPD employees would favor Asst. Chief Sennett over any outside candidate hands down...just ask one. Chief Sennett knows what needs fixing and would quickly move to do just that. No need for a year or more of analyzing the department. Count me as a Sennett supporter!....CMPD Rank and File.
DO NOT HIRE FROM WITHIN!
Sennett would first have to pull his head out of the Chief's ass.
I say hire from within, but make it an agressive street officer. who has no political affiliations, no cares about who they offend. Will let officers kick butt when needed, without fear of loosing there jobs. aggresivly police and deter crime.
Mr. Sennett owes too many favors to the likes of Johnny Harris and that group. While his credentials are impressive his "good old boy" network still exist.
this officer favors Rodney Monroe....
The last time we hired from within was back in the 1991-1992 time -frame and we got Chief Stone for 2 years. He was a good chief. Since then we have hired from the outside and look where that has got us. It is time we went back inside. TO GO OUTSIDE IS TO GET MORE OF THE SAME.
The city council is not going to hire anyone who does not fit the profile they want. Stephens and Nowicki were thought to represent progressive policing: more of the touchy-feely genre. They will never hire a person who fits the officers' "ideal." Stephens has come around, as of late, in supporting the arresting of offenders, in addition to the community policing aspect. It takes a multi-pronged approach between community policing, aggressive enforcement and aggressive prosecution. Although I don't know Sennett well, he is more old-school. I say stick with the known quantity: go with Sennett. The citizens must let council know that they want aggressive policing, so that they will decide accordingly.
Jerry Sennett was on Keith Larson this AM and from what I heard ...More of the Same,...blame the Media on Charlottes Crime......SOS....
To all those that are arguing against Sennett what makes you think that an outsider will not have the same problems. I believe that the chief needs to come from within the dept. The point above about the others know how to fix the problems from their previous dept. is spot on. It does not matter if the chief comes from inside or outside the deptment they still have to answer to the city manager, city council etc. My 2 cents are go with Sennett. Change the way things have been done for nearly 2 decades, hire the chief from within the CMPD ranks and set the precident for 5 years from now when we can get D/C Putney to become Chief Putney.
to 12:15: did you not listen to this guy on WBT today. He thinks the current chief has done a great job, there is no real crime problem in this Cesspool City, the cops are tough enough on criminals, etc, etc., etc. The man is clueless and so are the City council and the County Commissioners. Absolutely clueless when they beleive $2.5 million will have an impact on the crime in the 8th worst crime haven in the country!!!WHat a joke!
City manager will make the decision..that makes it convenient for the council who are elected..its not any council person's fault for high crime rates in this hug a thug policing...same way with financing the DAs office and prisons..its the States problem...but they never ask the state for the crime money, they do ask for light rail, museums,white water parks, etc..
And when it finally gets to the county..we can spend 50 million, but only if we take a huge tax increase..
Its all a game of shuffle the responsibility so that no elected official has to answer for our crime rate. Admitting we have a problem has two issues: it makes Charlotte look bad in the media, and the majority of elected officials are extreme liberals who believe we have failed the criminals and must do better to reach out to them. Nowhere do they really believe they have failed the citizens, and they are not reaching out us.
The choice of Police Chief will mirror what they really believe and what is important to them. Putting criminals in jail is not one of the considerations.
Watch who they pick, what measures are taken to prosecute crime, what real improvements are made and then vote in November accordingly.
forget political parties, vote for results.
Isn't the current city manager from Richmond?? I wonder if he knows anyone up there? hmmm... Oh yea, maybe he knows the Chief of Police...
I throw this out there because I only have questions.
1) Does the Chief have the ability to change laws & force more prosecution?
2) If so, when would he/she find the time while managing his staff/officers/meetings?
3) Isnt it true we almost always see CMPD catch the criminals? So our frustrations may be misdirected toward the wrong department?
4) What is Richmond's ranking on crime? I thought it was pretty bad?
Sincerely curious.
If you remember a few years back a female officer was reprimanded for asking the legal status of Hispanic man. The man had called police to report a non-violent crime. In the course of the interview the officer asked the Hispanic male if thery were a legal resident. Deputy Chief Sennett backed the chief in this reprimand.
I say bring the Yankees to the South!! bring police officers from New York (NYPD)... those dogs are tough and don't play!! NC need tough officers to deal with criminals.
1) Does the Chief have the ability to change laws & force more prosecution?
Yes
1. Stop the policy of amnisty city ..don't ask don't tell for illegal aliens... the "don't ask" policy doesn't seem to help police track down crime; example Padron at the top of the page today. Perhaps a little fear they could find themselves deported will losen lips.
2. Stephens has a heavy officer committment to community hug a thug programs. Those officers would better serve the citizens by patrolling neighborhoods and parking lots where crime is happening everyday.
3. A chief that speaks up and actually admitts the facts of high crime, gangs, and the lack of support from city county state for funding the justice system would be a tremendous departure from Stephens who was an apologist for the weak Charmeck response to crime, and in fact in denial that it even existed.
Yes the chief has much to do with the laws as they are enforced and in prosecuting crime. We need somebody tough, somebody who will push the lame politicians into acting...but those same politicians will hire a hug a thug yes man..just like like they have right now.
The chief's (to-be) forum was held at the LEC today. This was an opportunity for officers to ask questions of the would-be chiefs. From an in-house perspective, our own Asst. Chief Sennett was head and shoulders above the other two candidates. Monroe doesn't like the taser and seemed too passive. Dreher had a lot of stock aNswers that have already been tried here in Charlotte. Sennett had a lot more experience than the others. For those that are dead set on an outside chief, remember that Asst Chief Sennett was put in charge of the uptown New Years event this year. It was his baby and his alone, not Stevens. I know we can expect similar aggressive policing if Sennett is given the job. AN INSIDERS VIEW
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