Colorado Springs closes application period for police chief opening

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said Wednesday that 55 people have applied to replace the retiring Pete Carey as police chief.

“They come from all sizes of departments,” he said. “Some very big departments, several police chiefs from cities a little smaller than Colorado Springs, a lot of deputy chiefs from very large departments, things like that.”
Suthers said the application period has ended and he wants an open process — considering candidates within and outside the Police Department — to find the best person for the job.

A selection committee will narrow the list of candidates to 20, then to the final three to five.

“The committee includes somebody from the Police Protective Association and human resources,” Suthers said. “We’ll probably have the city attorney, the assistant city manager and probably a former police chief. The City Council also must confirm the best candidate.”

Suthers said it’s doubtful a new chief will be chosen before Carey’s departure date of Feb. 1, but hopes Carey’s replacement will be hired in April at the latest.

Carey will have no formal role in the interview process, Suthers said.

“The biggest challenge faced by a new chief is allocating resources,” Suthers said. “We’re hiring 120 officers over the next few years. Where do you put them? On patrol, in specialized units or on traffic duty because we had a record number of traffic deaths last year.”
Deputy Chief Vince Niski will serve as interim chief until the city finds a permanent replacement.

Suthers said names of the candidates will be made public when the committee whittles the list down to 5.

“We’ll do mostly phone interviews but bring the finalists in for face-to-face interviews,” he said.