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Interviews For New Police Chief Begin This Week

Interviews are being conducted this week with nine candidates for Columbus police chief, the first to be chosen from outside the department.

Candidates include former Seattle assistant chief Perry Tarrant, who was a finalist in the first ever national search in 2019. Other candidates include:

  • Elaine Bryant, Detroit deputy police chief
  • Robert Clark, former FBI agent and senior superintendent with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service
  • Derrick Diggs, Fort Myers, Florida police chief, former Toldeo police chief
  • Avery Moore, Dallas police assistant chief
  • Bryan Norwood, vice president of public safety Metro Washington Airports Authority, former Richmond, Virgina police chief
  • Ivonne Roman, former Newark, New Jersey police chief and cofounder of 30x30 initiative to increase the number of women in policing
  • Joseph Sullivan, retired Philadeplphia police deputy commissioner
  • David Taylor, FDIC national account manager with 30 years experience in the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department

More interviews may be scheduled from among the 34 applicants. Mayor Andy Ginther says finalists will appear in a virtual town hall May 19th, and a new chief may be appointed by the end of the month.
When former Police Chief Kim Jacobs retired in 2019 the city launched the first ever national search for a replacement, before selecting Deputy Chief Thomas Quinlan. In January, Ginther asked Quinlan to step down, saying the city had "lost confidence" in his leadership, and he promised the next chief would come from outside the Columbus division. In Februrary the city's Civil Service Commission created the position of assistant police chief, to make it easier for a new chief to bring in someone else from outside.

A native of Chicago, naturalized citizen of Cincinnati and resident of Columbus, Alison attended Earlham College and the Ohio State University. She has equal passion for Midwest history, hockey and Slavic poetry.
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