Police chief search process: City manager to solicit community input, officer opinion

The Savannah Police Department will soon be without a permanent police chief for the third time in the last decade.

The resignation of Chief Roy Minter, who joined the department in 2018, came last week and his last day is July 28. The process for finding a new chief is already underway.

Selecting Minter's successor is the responsibility of Savannah City Manager Jay Melder, but he says he won't be the only voice in the decision-making process.

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In the meantime, Melder has appointed Assistant Chief Lenny Gunther to lead the department. Gunther has been with SPD since 2001, and was appointed as assistant chief under Minter.

Melder has been part of the hiring process for two police chiefs in his career, which includes stints as an assistant city manager. At his most recent previous job, in Washington D.C., the mayor made the final call, not the city manager.

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Melder said "hiring a police chief is the most important HR decision that an executive can make."

The process he's laying out for the next few months reflects that. He said vetting would be "thorough and arduous" for applicants, and he'll be fielding opinions from a broad spectrum of voices: community members and stakeholders, faith and business leaders, SPD staff and city council. All will get a say.

Melder's plan

The last three searches conducted by the City of Savannah to find Savannah’s top cop all took about seven months. Each was conducted under a different city manager.

Melder has set a more ambitious schedule, telling council his goal is to have the next police chief hired by the end of the year — five months.

He isn't going to let that schedule speed up or slow down the process. The goal is to find the best candidate, Melder said. And to do that, the first step is to contract a "gold standard police executive recruitment firm." He says the city is in the "final stages" of that.

During the last search in 2018, Minter was one of four finalists selected for the position. All finalists underwent a series of interviews and meetings with key executive city staff, two citizens advisory panels and a law enforcement panel.

Finalists also completed a formal assessment process conducted by the city's contracted search group, Developmental Associates, LLC, in which the candidates' knowledge, skills and abilities were assessed.

Then City Manager Rob Hernandez collected feedback from those who attended the interviews and meetings before making the decision to hire Minter. Melder says he's looking to expand upon that.

Melder said the process would include online surveys and focus group settings to collect public opinion on what Savannah residents would like to see from a new chief.

Public opinion is important, Melder said, especially given the spate of officer-involved shootings in recent months as well as two recent shootings near City Market, Melder says there's a lot of trust to be built, especially in the realm of racial disparity in policing.

He wants a chief that can help build that public confidence.

"We need to recognize the reasons why some of those we serve may not trust us, and work every day to build trust and confound that distrust," Melder said. "And so we need a chief who's going to be able to continue to lead critically in that effort, and make sure that our officers understand the dynamics between policing and racial justice, and how they are really a part of the solution there and the healing and community."

Police opinion

Savannah police, from rank and file officers to the command staff, will get a say as well.

Melder said he's already having conversations with the SPD brass, with plans to expand his input collection down the chain of command. He's not ruling out internal candidates for the position, noting "I think we've got some great leadership there, and some great talent."

Input from those who would actually work day-to-day under the new chief is valuable insight, as there were plenty of officers who took issue with Minter's leadership.

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In April 2020, a group of 77 members of the Savannah Police Department, including the captains of all four precincts, signed a statement of workplace conflict with 22 complaints against  Minter.

The undated letter, sent to the city of Savannah’s Human Resources Department, includes claims of favoritism, public embarrassment and “outright disrespect.”

More recently, a survey of 137 Savannah police officers alluded to distrust of command staff and a culture that stokes fear of retaliation by Minter.

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Melder said in his discussions with SPD staffers so far, he's learned they want a leader with good communication skills, a focus on leadership and training opportunities, and someone who supports officers through career development and pay increases.

Melder will also be proposing raises for SPD officers in an attempt to help the new chief keep staffing high and turnover low — $50,000 and up starting pay.

"We want to make sure that we're gonna get a leader into the police department who our police officers want to have, and want to work hard for," Melder said. "And so they're going to have a really important role in helping shape that criteria, which ultimately, is going to shape the decision."

Melder said Minter himself has also been part of the process, but he said ultimately, the search is about the future of the department, not the past.

"We're going to be focused on the future here, and we'll get his input. Just like I've gotten input from past leaders of the department as well," Melder said. "But really, most important to me is going to be that our officers, our corporals, our lieutenants, our sergeants, those folks who are working in the department now and are looking at 20 years to go in the department, I want to make sure that they've got a leader that they're going to feel excited about continuing their career and service for."

Melder’s decision

On the job since last September, Melder is now working to fill two major public safety vacancies following the resignation of Savannah Fire Department Chief Derik Minard last month.

The city charter gives the city manager full jurisdiction over and power to appoint various positions and department heads within the organization, including the chief of police, which means Savannah City Council will not get a vote on the matter.

At his weekly press conference last week, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson listed off a few of his wishlist superlatives for the next police chief. Johnson says he’s hoping for someone with “a mixture of knowledge, skills and abilities of policing as a profession," and “someone who has equity and inclusion in their lens.”

He even loosely quoted Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” noting he’s looking for someone who can “walk with the crowd and keep their virtue, or walk with kings and keep the common touch.”

But above all, Johnson said he was hoping for someone who “gets Savannah.”

“They could be a great police chief, but they have to get Savannah; they have to be able to withstand Savannah,” Johnson said. “Savannah can be a hard gig.”

Previous searches

When the city took on the search for a chief in 2014, the timeline was similar. The position was advertised for two months and attracted 11 applications from 29 states. The eventual hire, Joseph Lumpkin, was one of three finalists considered for the job.

The seven-month search included an online survey to gather input on what traits the public would like the chief to have in addition to various community panels interviews and interviews by city and county managers.

Prior to Lumpkin, it took the city seven months to settle on Willie Lovett, an internal hire. Lovett had been named interim chief following the departure of Michael Berkow.

A total of 90 applicants applied for the position. A Police Department Policy Committee, which was made up of then Savannah City Manager Michael Brown, Mayor Otis Johnson, County Manager Russ Abolt and Commission Chairman Pete Liakakis settled on Lovett.

According to past new reports, the group based their decision on Lovett’s ability to achieve five goals: Improve command staff leadership; crack down on repeat offenders; put civilians in administrative positions; engage the community; and attack drugs, gangs and gun violence.

Lovett was forced to retire in 2013 due to a sexual harassment complaint filed by a department officer and was later sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for his role in a commercial gambling operation.

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah police chief search begins, community input as top priority