How will Wichita recruit and select its next police chief? Community input promised
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What does Wichita want in its next police chief?
With Police Chief Gordon Ramsay’s upcoming resignation, people in Wichita are already thinking about what qualities and priorities the next top cop should have.
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Wichita City Manager Robert Layton is ultimately responsible for hiring the city’s next police chief. He already has basic ideal-candidate criteria in mind.
But he says what the community wants will also shape his opinion.
With current Police Chief Gordon Ramsay out on March 1, the city is gearing up to find his replacement. The last time Wichita searched for a police chief, in 2014, finding the right person for the job took over a year.
Layton told The Eagle in a recent interview that he doesn’t have a time frame for this hire yet. But he doesn’t think it will take that long.
Layton says citizens will have a chance to offer input during the entire hiring process, not just at forums with finalists — something welcomed by many members of the community and advocates who responded to a recent Eagle survey asking what qualities, background and priorities they want from the next police chief.
Some had expressed concerns that the community would be largely cut out of the process since the Wichita Police Department chief is an administrative role hired by the city manager rather than an elected position, like the local sheriff.
“I recognize the importance of this selection. Not only will people be involved on the back end, but on the front end,” Layton told The Eagle when asked about the extent of citizen involvement.
A request for proposals seeking a private search firm to recruit the next chief says the city is looking for an “experienced, approachable, and collaborative” leader who will be “expected to expand upon the innovative policing practices and community engagement efforts of the department, and to have a proven track record of openness, transparency and working with diverse communities.”
Layton told The Eagle in the interview he’s also looking for someone who places emphasis on community policing and outreach.
“We were one of the first cities in the country to successfully roll on community policing. I’d like to build on that legacy,” he said.
The right candidate will also continue Ramsay’s work diversifying the department so the racial, ethnic and gender make up of officers is “reflective of the community” and devise “creative solutions” to mental health issues, drug addiction problems and effectively combat violent crime, he said.
Someone who communicates with the agency’s rank and file employees is ideal, he added.
The president of the local police union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, and others who responded to The Eagle’s community survey, have complained of low morale among officers. Layton said he didn’t have enough feedback to know but reiterated that a communication pipeline will be key to airing concerns to the chief and command staff.
“It’s a significant-sized organization, and so it’s important not only that we know what the community’s thoughts are, but what are the thoughts of those that are in the department,” Layton said.
Additional skill requirements listed in the RFP include nine years of law enforcement experience, three years working as a supervisor or administrator, a college degree in a police- or criminology-related field and patrol experience. Community relations, investigations and special operations know-how is “highly desired,” according to the document.
The annual salary range for the position is $130,000 to $217,360. In 2020, Ramsay was the second-highest paid city employee, behind Layton, with a total compensation package of $224,056.64.
Ramsay announced in December that he will resign from the job after six years to move back to Duluth, Minnesota, to be with family and explore a run for St. Louis County sheriff. He served as chief of the Duluth Police Department, which is about a quarter of the size of the WPD, for 10 years before coming to Wichita.
Here’s what the city can expect in the coming months as the search for a new police chief is underway:
The city has already completed the first step of its hiring process — soliciting proposals from private search and recruitment firms. The submission deadline for proposals passed on Jan. 31. The city received eight, Layton said.
A committee Layton put together consisting of three community members — NAACP Wichita chapter president Larry Burks, Wichita Crime Commission president Jeff Geoffroy and Monique Garcia, the Kansas Health Foundation’s director of community relations — and two City Council members — Vice Mayor Becky Tuttle and former Vice Mayor Brandon Johnson — will review the proposals and provide feedback, he said. Several city staff members will help.
Layton hopes to select and interview firm finalists by mid-February. If the firms’ bids are less than $50,000, city council approval isn’t required to make a selection, “which helps us expedite the process,” he said.
The firm with the winning bid will then develop a process to engage and seek input from the community that will be used to develop a profile of Wichita’s ideal police chief.
“We’re going to look for someone (a firm) who’s been through this process successfully in other communities where they’ve been able to get the right mix of public engagement throughout the process,” Layton said.
A yet-to-be-formed recruitment selection committee Layton promised would be made up of a “balanced group” of stakeholders who “represent significant elements in the community” will help him review the ideal candidate profile and the firm’s work moving forward., he said.
Layton, at the time of his Eagle interview, didn’t know how long the entire process would take.
The winning consulting firm will help the city develop “a realistic timetable” for the candidate profile and the ensuing recruitment and selection process, he said.
The community will be involved along the way.
“I understand concerns about waiting to the end to get input, so our process will be a little more robust than that,” Layton said.
This story was originally published February 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
