OAKLAND — There’s no word from City Hall about where things stand in the search for the Oakland Police Department’s next chief, nine months after the last permanent chief was placed on leave ahead of his firing.
But sources close to the process say officials have begun screening a number of candidates for the job — a top role in a city plagued by crime with a police department that remains under federal oversight amid a series of internal scandals.
One of those candidates, among several others experienced in Bay Area law enforcement, is Steven Ford, who in August retired as the Antioch police chief after an explosive FBI probe uncovered that he was the subject of racist text messages sent by subordinate officers.
Other Bay Area police officials who submitted applications for the role include Los Altos Police Chief Angela Averiett, who could not be reached for an interview, along with two police commanders in San Francisco, according to sources who have reviewed the materials. No OPD personnel appear to have applied.
Ford is also on the shortlist for the chief job at Cal State East Bay’s police department, which next week will hold public forums over Zoom for him and other finalists — part of a process that allows students and faculty to vet the prospective chiefs.
Being hired to one of the jobs would keep Ford in the East Bay, where he arrived in early 2022 from the San Francisco Police Department.
A month before his hiring, the FBI had raided the homes of several Antioch officers — a probe that eventually led to multiple arrests for alleged crimes committed under the watch of the chief who preceded Ford.
Among the evidence of rampant bigotry unveiled by the investigation were racist text messages in which Antioch officers referred to Ford, a Black man, using a gorilla emoji.
“It is what it is,” Ford, reached by phone Wednesday, said of the scandal. He declined to comment on the Oakland chief job search out of “respect for the application process and the other candidates.”
His cover letter, which was obtained by this news organization, notes “challenges and successes” during his time in Antioch.
When former Oakland Chief LeRonne Armstrong was hired by then-mayor Libby Schaaf in 2021, it came on the recommendation of a small committee of advisors who interviewed and vetted the finalists for the job.
Nearly a year went by between his predecessor’s firing and Armstrong being named chief. It’s still unclear how long this latest vacancy will last.
Armstrong, who was fired in February by Mayor Sheng Thao on the heels of an internal misconduct scandal roiling the department, has made clear he wants his old job back — and in the meantime has found work as an assistant high-school basketball coach, The Oaklandside reported.
A former judge who heard Armstrong’s appeal of his firing said in September that the former chief should not have been disciplined for his role in the scandal.
The mayor has said her reason for firing Armstrong was that he alleged in public — after earlier being placed on leave — that he was being unfairly targeted by a federal official who oversees the police department’s affairs.
Last month, three outgoing members of the Oakland Police Commission included Armstrong in a shortlist of 18 candidates sent to the mayor’s office, publicizing only his name — and no one else’s — in a show of support for the ex-chief’s consideration.
Members of the commission, a group of civilians who hold the rare power of finalizing candidates for the chief role, declined interview requests on the status of the search. One of them, Regina Jackson, said a “media blackout” would remain in effect until the final candidates are announced.
Leigh Hanson, the mayor’s chief of staff, said last month that no decisions had been made about whether an advisory committee will help finalize the OPD chief’s hiring this time around, noting the heavy turnover within a divided police commission.
Thao has said she expects to receive a list of finalists — that she will actually consider — from the Police Commission by the end of the year.
Earlier this week, Thao announced the hiring of Holly Joshi as the permanent chief of the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention, a non-police arm of the city intended to pre-empt situations of violence through early intervention and other social-needs programs.
“Chief Joshi has vast experience and has worked on proven evidence-based solutions that we know make a difference in reducing and preventing violence,” Thao said in a release announcing the hire.
Staff writers Nate Gartrell and Rick Hurd contributed to this story.
Source: www.mercurynews.com