Top Cops in Seattle, LAPD Join 3 From Dallas Police as Finalists for Next Chief

Dallas’ next police chief will be chosen from eight finalists who include a chief from Seattle, another from Los Angeles and three high-ranking members of the Dallas Police Department, officials announced Wednesday.The position has been vacant since October, when Chief David Brown retired at the height of his renown for shepherding the city through the July 7 ambush.City Manager T.C. Broadnax is responsible for hiring Brown’s replacement but is expected to rely on input from other individuals.Broadnax hasn’t said how many people applied for the job.Half of the finalists are from outside Dallas -- much like Broadnax, who worked in San Antonio and Tacoma, Wash., before coming to Dallas in February.The list was narrowed down to Dallas Deputy Chiefs Malik Aziz and Rick Watson, Dallas Assistant Chief Gary Tittle, Seattle Deputy Chief Carmen Best, Grand Prairie Police Chief Steven Dye, Detroit Deputy Chief U. Renee Hall, Los Angeles First Assistant Chief Michel Moore and Assistant Chief Luther Reynolds of Montgomery County, Maryland.Aziz oversees the special investigations division. Rick Watson is the chief over the north central patrol division. And Gary Tittle is the chief over the narcotics bureau.Interviews will be held July 10 to 12. Broadnax has said he expects to make the hire by the end of the summer.The next chief will step into a police department that has struggled in recent months to do more with fewer officers. Dozens of experienced officers have left the 3,100-officer department in recent years, making it the smallest it has been in a decade.The police associations have blamed high attrition on the city’s pension issue, which led many veteran officers to retire earlier than planned, and officer pay, which is lower than many other Dallas-area police departments.Dallas has said it’s looking for a police chief who is an “inspirational leader and an experienced executive.” Brown, who was the city’s longest serving police chief, struggled to maintain the respect of his subordinates and was blamed at times for low morale within the department.Interim police Chief David Pughes has led the department since Brown stepped down after six years as chief. Pughes did not apply for the permanent job, saying he still has young children."Being the police chief in Dallas ... you really, to be successful, have to put the police department first," he said after taking over as interim chief.A glimpse of the finalists:Malik Aziz, Dallas deputy chief  Continue reading...