The Calgary Police Service will not have a new chief in place before Roger Chaffin retires in January.
Calgary Police Commission chair Brian Thiessen said Tuesday an interim chief will be selected from within the ranks next week while the search continues for a new permanent leader.
“We have excellent leadership within the service that we can choose from for an interim chief and then the next process will be the hiring the new chief,” Thiessen said.
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The chairman spoke to reporters after making a presentation to the City of Calgary’s audit committee.
He said it will be five to six months before a new police chief is hired.
The police commission’s internal search committee is now in the process of selecting an external executive search firm to help select a new chief.
“We’ve made clear, as a commission, that we expect the service to remain focused on HR reform, use of force review, to keep working on all those projects as we move forward.”
Thiessen said the number one priority is to get the best possible next chief constable.
He said the engagement from the public will likely come from responses to previous satisfaction surveys conducted by the commission.
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“The public is very focused on the community policing model, they’re supportive of our HR reforms, they constantly reference funding and police services but the community policing model is very important to them.”
Once the executive search firm is hired and criteria is set, it’s expected a 15-day window will be open for applications for the job later this fall.