City wise to go slow on hiring new police chief

Though it is concerning that it may be the end of the summer before Wichita hires a new police chief – a full year after former chief Norman Williams retired – city officials were wise to pause and conduct an organization assessment of the Wichita Police Department. The assessment should be a blueprint both for hiring a new chief and improving the WPD.

After Williams retired last August, Wichita City Manager Robert Layton ordered the assessment to research best practices and identify the strengths of the WPD and ways it could improve. The assessment occurred at the same time there has been growing concerns nationally and locally about racial profiling and the use of force by police.

The Hugo Wall School of Public Affairs at Wichita State University spent about six months conducting the assessment. It collected information from 195 WPD employees (25 percent of the department) and held 22 meetings with external stakeholders.

Department strengths identified in the report included quality personnel, community policy philosophy, specialty units and good relationships with other law enforcement units. Areas to improve included training, communication and the implementation of community policing.

A top priority of city and WPD officials is improving community relations. Recommendations in the assessment report included:

▪  Hiring a forward-thinking police chief who is a proven practitioner of community policing;

▪  Continuing implementation of body cameras;

▪  Training all officers on dealing with citizens with mental illnesses;

▪  Providing better training and improved communication with the public on racial profiling;

▪  Establishing a new community advisory board;

▪  Improving internal practices, policy and training regarding the use of force.

Community groups and WPD employees also suggested qualities and qualifications needed in a new police chief. The most frequent responses included excellent communication skills, proven leader in a metro environment, ethical and professional conduct beyond reproach, and the ability to form healthy relationships with the entire community and other law-enforcement agencies.

Layton plans to put together implementation teams to begin work on the recommendations. He also wants to appoint the community advisory board within the next month.

A search firm will help identify police chief candidates, but Layton wants the advisory board and the community to be very involved in the selection process, which he expects to take four to six months.

That means it could be July or August before Wichita has a new police chief, which is a lot later than most people expected. But taking the time to conduct the organizational assessment should help ensure that the new chief understands and agrees with department and community priorities and has the skills to lead and bring change.

For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "City wise to go slow on hiring new police chief."