How are police chiefs selected/appointed?

[Steyrwaytoheaven]

Can anybody educate me on the police chief selection/appointment process? I'm curious specifically about California's selection process but it would also be nice to see how the rest of the nation works. I found myself wondering about this after hearing differing stances on gun control from either the Police Chiefs Union or the Police Officer's Association around election time. Most anti-gun people refer to the Police Chief's Union for their take on gun control in order to give the naive voter the impression that law enforcement agencies believe gun control to be a good policy. However the pro-gun side typically refers to the Police Officer's Association to get their back around election time. It seems to me that police chief's are typically (at least in California) anti gun rights and I'm wondering if it is by design or by coincidence. Do city mayors have a say in the selection of a police chief? Why is it so often that the police chief seems to be in the hip pocket of the mayor? Is it a funding pressure levied by the mayor or does a police chief's position within an agency rely solely upon the good-will of the mayor at the police chief's inception and for the rest of his tenure? Is it safe to say that a police chief is typically just a uniformed reflection of the mayor at least politically speaking?

Curiously,
Brian

[CDR]

In large municipalities, the Police Chief is typically selected by the Police Commissioner on merit.  The  Police Commissioner is appointed by and reports directly to the mayor.  Both the Commissioner and Police Chief will certainly reflect the wishes of the mayor.

[Tenbones]

   As a former police chief I can only describe the hiring process for the department I headed although I know of other departments who use similar process.  The city commissioners first of all advertise for the police chiefs position from the applications they receive the list is narrowed down to those with the best qualifications.  From there you go through the interview process with the mayor, police commissioner and any other commissioners as the mayor sees fit to have on the panel.  This panel then makes the final decision on who will be the next chief.  The police chiefs position is an appointed position and works at the pleasure of the mayor and city council which means the mayor can fire him without cause.  This doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.  Is the police chief the lacky of the mayor?  This depends a lot on the chief.  Mayors and police commissioners like to push their weight around so you have to stand up to them.  I have often been amazed by the fact that an ordinary citizen with little or no law enforcement experience and by virtue of being elected mayor or any city commissioner suddenly becomes an expert in law enforcement administration and procedures. 

As for the anti-gun bent of a lot of CLEO and departments I can see where that can easily happen because when you are a cop or a CLEO you are constantly confronted with people with guns or see the results of people who got on the wrong end of a gun and you tend to develope a strong resentment towards guns in general. 

I was chief under three different mayors and only one tried to run my department, needless to say, we did not get along.  Fortunately, I had a good police commissioner who backed me up.  I hope this helps.

[Steyrwaytoheaven]

   As a former police chief I can only describe the hiring process for the department I headed although I know of other departments who use similar process.  The city commissioners first of all advertise for the police chiefs position from the applications they receive the list is narrowed down to those with the best qualifications.  From there you go through the interview process with the mayor, police commissioner and any other commissioners as the mayor sees fit to have on the panel.  This panel then makes the final decision on who will be the next chief.  The police chiefs position is an appointed position and works at the pleasure of the mayor and city council which means the mayor can fire him without cause.  This doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.  Is the police chief the lacky of the mayor?  This depends a lot on the chief.  Mayors and police commissioners like to push their weight around so you have to stand up to them.  I have often been amazed by the fact that an ordinary citizen with little or no law enforcement experience and by virtue of being elected mayor or any city commissioner suddenly becomes an expert in law enforcement administration and procedures. 

As for the anti-gun bent of a lot of CLEO and departments I can see where that can easily happen because when you are a cop or a CLEO you are constantly confronted with people with guns or see the results of people who got on the wrong end of a gun and you tend to develope a strong resentment towards guns in general. 

I was chief under three different mayors and only one tried to run my department, needless to say, we did not get along.  Fortunately, I had a good police commissioner who backed me up.  I hope this helps.

Yes, it helped a lot. Thanks for all the info. It makes a lot more sense to me why police chiefs tend to parrot the mayor's political stance on just about everything. I don't like the fact that a politician can make important L.E. policy decisions anymore than I would like that same person performing a circumcision on my first born son. Either way it is a matter of a person stepping outside the bounds of their expertise and I tend to resent that. Another thing I resent about the process is that merit will take a Chief candidate only so far. The other half of the equation is if he thinks exactly like those already in power. Chiefs seem to serve the dual purpose of a mayor's hit-man as well as his fall-guy. Under those circumstances I don't know why anybody would even want the position. The most recent event that I found slightly disturbing was L.A. police chief Bratton's complete reversal of his stance towards a crowd dispursal incident regarding immigration reform where he first backed his officer's conduct in light of organized agitators then did a 360 when Mayor Villaraigosa came back from a tour in Mexico with his uninformed and politically safe opinion. Chief Bratton not only reversed his opinion but he penalized several officers to boot! With politicians continually crippling law enforcement agencies and Police Chiefs pandering to them I really don't understand how the average police officer is expected to safely alleviate any crime whatsoever. When it comes to my personal safety I'll turn to Tony Montana for some words of wisdom, "Who do I trust? I trust me!"

[JohnJacobH]

Can anybody educate me on the police chief selection/appointment process?
Curiously,
Brian

The first thing to determine is whether your municipality is run as a "city manager" government or an "elected official" government.

In many cities the Mayor and Council are essentially figureheads and the real power is with the often invisible and long term City
Manager's office. While there maybe checks and balances to remove him from office or influence his policies the reality is City Managers remain in charge for 10,20,even 30 years and go to conferences to get the latest whizbang government ideas and
come back and implement them in their city whether the local culture supports the idea or not.

So on paper, the Police Chief position goes through a "selection process" and "the best candidate for the job" is hired but the reality is the original pool of candidates is often screened by the City Manager in order not to "bog the elected officials  down with
overwhelming detail".

Then, if your city is like the cities in my neck of the woods, out of the final three or four candidates the most politically correct, agenda driven individual gets the job regardless of what the public may think.

This is the individual who then oversees hiring and promotion  policies for the entire force. 

Is it any wonder a really good index  for the depth of irrationality to which modern society has sunk is the behaviour and beliefs of the modern day law enforcement community?

If you really want to understand your local Police or Sheriff it is still possible to go on "ride alongs" and attend CALEA Accredition
hearings in many communities, though like everything else the fortress mentality is slowly overtaking the (former) transparency
that was a hallmark of our (formerly) civilized society.

In my neck of the woods a visit to the local Police Headquarters involves a complete metal detector screening and escort to the
office you seek to visit. This, in a building full of armed and presumably proficient gunowners.

Good luck in your research,

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