Four in running for top cop job

St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Apr. 26—The field for St. Joseph's next police chief has been narrowed to four.

Philip Lukens, Paul Luster, Stephenie Price and Rance Quinn are the finalists for the job and all come from outside of the city. No current employees of the St. Joseph Police Department applied for the position.

The four were selected from a pool of 23 applicants. Dave Hart has been serving as the city's interim police chief since Chris Connally retired in September.

"The four finalists possess exceptional experience, qualifications, leadership characteristics and approaches to policing," City Manager Bryan Carter said. "The high quality of this group is a testament to the process that Public Sector Search and Consulting, Inc. developed for our police chief search. We look forward to hosting them in St. Joseph and, ultimately, naming one of them to lead our police department."

Lukens is chief of police for the Alliance, Nebraska, Police Department and has been serving in that role since late 2020. He started his law enforcement career in Colorado in 1995.

Lukens has multiple certifications, including those from the Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command and the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute for Police, and he was featured in Police Magazine's "2022 Most Innovative Leaders."

Luster is a major with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department. where he has been employed for more than 25 years. He currently commands the Kansas City Police Regional Training Academy, overseeing all police recruit and continuing education programs for KCPD and its regional partners.

Luster has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Park University and has attended the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute for Police.

Price is deputy chief of police in Beauford, South Carolina, joining that force in February. She began her career with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department in 1999, and rose to the rank of commander by 2019. That year she became the assistant chief of police in Savannah, Georgia, and in 2020, she was appointed chief of police in Bluffton, South Carolina.

She is also a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute for Police.

Quinn retired with the rank of major from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department after serving as acting deputy chief of police. He served in law enforcement for more than 30 years and has a wide range of experience including working major cases and internal affairs.

He is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum's Senior Management Institute for Police and is also a certified public manager.

The finalists will meet with three interview panels on Thursday, May 11, and will attend a community meet-and-greet event that evening from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Spratt Hall, Rooms 214 and 216 on the campus of Missouri Western State University. The public is invited to attend.