Interviews set for this week for Modesto’s two finalists for police chief
City Manager Joe Lopez and Mayor Sue Zwahlen are set to interview the two finalists for Modesto police chief this week, but it is not known when the city will announce who is its next chief.
Deputy City Manager Caluha Barnes said in a text message Monday that the interviews are this week “but we won’t make an announcement until the background process is completed. We don’t have an estimate for how long that process will take.”
Galen Carroll retired as police chief in December after nearly eight years with the department and about 28 years as an officer. Assistant Chief Brandon Gillespie has been serving as interim chief.
Modesto hired the Rocklin-based executive search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates to conduct a nationwide recruitment for the job from May 6 to June 21. The search garnered 14 applicants. A city official has said Modesto is paying the executive search firm $42,000 to help it in the recruitment.
The 14 applicants were winnowed to four candidates in June. The candidates were interviewed this month by two panels, one composed of city officials and the Modesto Police Officers Association president and another composed of officials from community organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, Modesto Neighborhoods Inc., the NACCP, Latino Community Roundtable and MoPride.
Gillespie has said he applied for the job and was one of the four candidates. When the city announced in mid July it was down to two finalists, Gillespie said when asked then he would confirm his status once he knew. But he has since said he would not comment out of respect of the city’s recruitment process.
Modesto has not released the names of the candidates or finalists. Barnes, the deputy city manager, has said Modesto understands the public’s interest in knowing the names of the finalists, but that is outweighed by the need to protect the finalists’ privacy and relationships with their current employers.
It’s not uncommon for cities across the nation to release the names of their police chief finalists, though it is not common in California. However, San Jose released the names of its police chief finalists in February, and Oakland released the names of its finalists in November.
Modesto’s Police Department has a $72.4 million budget and is allocated 298 employees, with about two-thirds of them sworn officers, from the chief to the newest officer.
