Council Members Join Criticism Of San Diego Police Chief Selection Plan

Three San Diego City Council members on Wednesday joined in criticism of Mayor Kevin Faulconer's plan to choose a new police chief.

City officials on Tuesday announced four community forums next month aimed at gathering input on what kind of police chief San Diegans want. A panel will be chosen to interview candidates, but the membership of that panel will remain secret until a selection has been made.

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Councilman David Alvarez attended a press conference Wednesday called by a number of progressive advocacy groups, including Alliance San Diego and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Alvarez said the membership of the selection panel should be public knowledge.

"We need to know who they are, we need to know what interests they represent (and) we want to make sure they're diverse and that they represent the different viewpoints from people throughout San Diego," Alvarez said.

Council President Myrtle Cole later tweeted that she would ask Faulconer to create a "transparent interview panel," and to include additional community forums in Council Districts 8 and 9, both of which include large minority communities.

Councilwoman Barbara Bry retweeted a similar statement from Alliance San Diego.

The ACLU on Wednesday presented more detailed recommendations on the interview panel, saying it should include two youths, four chairs of different commissions that advise the city on police matters and one person appointed by each City Council member.

Mayoral spokeswoman Christina Chadwick said the four community forums were set at locations that could accommodate large crowds, and at times that could accommodate people's different schedules. She also said the practice of an anonymous interview panel was common.

"The recruitment process was developed based on industry standards and past practice by numerous cities, as well as the advice of recruiting firms who specialize in municipal recruitments of this size and scope," Chadwick said in an email. "That said, we are at the beginning of this process and many of the details will be born from the professional recruitment consultant the city selects."

The city has set up a page on its website with an expected timeline of the recruitment process. Candidate interviews are expected to take place in December and January, the selection will happen in January and the City Council confirmation hearing will be in February.