St. Louis police Lt. Col. Michael Sack congratulates St. Louis police Chief John Hayden on his career and retirement on Friday, June 17, 2022, in front of police headquarters downtown. Hayden’s last day was June 18.
ST. LOUIS — City officials on Tuesday released revised minimum requirements for police chief applicants after a search last year produced two white, male internal candidates, an outcome the mayor said did not meet her expectations.
Previously, the requirements specified that candidates needed to be a licensed police officer with at least 10 years of experience in the rank of captain or higher, along with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
This time around, the have at least 10 years of “increasingly responsible professional policing experience, including five years of patrol operations, administrative, or investigative responsibility at the rank of police commander or higher OR an equivalent combination of education, training and experience,†according to city’s job posting.
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The term “commander†is not a formal police rank, but rather a position within the organization.
In addition, the posting states they must have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, police science, public or business administration, or a closely related field.
By easing the position’s experience requirement, a much larger pool of candidates will be eligible to apply.
St. Louis police Sgt. Donnell Walters, president of the Ethical Society of Police, which represents many Black and minority officers in the department, told the Post-Dispatch in December that his organization opposed the requirement that chief candidates have at least 10 years as a captain. That requirement has excluded “extremely qualified Black candidates†who are part of the command staff, Walters said.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones told the Post-Dispatch in January she wanted to reboot the search because of the limited candidate pool.
“We’re going to start over,†Jones said at the time. “I think the public deserves that.â€
The Jones administration had clashed at times with the personnel department in her tenure over the ongoing search for a police chief and other employment issues, the Post-Dispatch previously reported.
The personnel department is a uniquely independent bureau not directly answerable to the mayor’s office and is in charge of narrowing the pool of police chief candidates to six finalists. The city’s public safety director Dan Isom, a member of Jones’ cabinet, is then supposed to pick from those six.
Former city personnel director Rick Frank retired Dec. 1.
Following a rule change within the city, Jones in February John Moten Jr.
Under Moten’s tenure, the department has been tight-lipped about the progress of the police chief search.
Isom confirmed in May that the city’s department of personnel will hire executive search firm The Boulware Group to help with the national search for a chief. The Center for Policing Equity, an organization dedicated to police reform, will be an unpaid partner in the search, he said.
St. Louis has never hired a police chief from outside its own ranks, but the city said it has committed to a national search for its next chief for the second time since the police department returned from state rule to city control in 2013.
The last date for applicants to apply is July 31, according to city’s job posting.
Police Chief John Hayden retired at the end of last week, leaving Lt. Col. Michael Sack to take over as interim chief. Sack was one of the two white male internal candidates in Jones’ first search for a new chief.
The second finalist, Lt. Col. Lawrence O’Toole, retired in May after settling a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city that claimed that he was passed over for the position of chief in 2017 because of his race.
Erin Heffernan contributed to this report.
