Once bitten, twice shy, they say. After enduring the bite of Texas import Daniel Garcia’s brief, tumultuous tenure as chief of the Phoenix Police Department and headline-grabbing ouster in 2014, the City of Phoenix was understandably shy as it searched for the next chief.
Interim chief Joe Yahner was a steadying force – he’d served as an interim chief before, and his easygoing, even-tempered demeanor was a comforting calm after Hurricane Garcia – but his imminent retirement this fall meant it was back to the drawing board for selecting a new chief. City officials knew they had to get it right this time.
“This is the most extensive search process the City of Phoenix has ever done for a chief,” assistant city manager Milton Dohoney says of the search, which began in November 2015 with a series of meetings between business and community leaders and groups about the qualities and experience they wanted from the next chief. “It was launched with input from the public and was transparent throughout. We had 65 candidates from all over the United States from a variety of law enforcement organizations as well as other industries and professions.”
In June, the three finalists answered the public directly in a town hall meeting/job interview hybrid where they were quizzed on their positions on everything from police interaction with mentally ill citizens to the Black Lives Matter movement. “The televised forum was standing-room only, and it was clear to the public in the room and those watching that it flowed from the questions they submitted,” Dohoney says. On July 13, Jeri Williams was named the new police chief – the first female chief in the department’s history (see sidebar) and the second black chief, after Chief Harold Hurtt, who led the department from 1998 to 2004.
“My career has come full-circle,” Williams says via email. “I started with the Phoenix Police Department 28 years ago. After spending 22 years rising through the ranks to the position of assistant chief, I left the City of Phoenix to gain valuable police experience in Oxnard, Calif. Being the police chief in Oxnard has been inspirational, challenging and an experience I will never forget.” She will assume chief duties in October, when Yahner retires.
The City of Phoenix made history with its appointment of Williams, who is Phoenix’s first female police chief and was also the first female police chief in Oxnard. Her sex is incidental, Williams says. “I was selected because of my experience, leadership, community connections, police management, communication abilities and demonstrated abilities,” she says. “I am a leader who just so happens to be a woman.” By joining Phoenix Fire Department Chief Kara Kalkbrenner in the “chief club,” Williams also helped Phoenix make history as the largest city in the nation to have women at the helm of both its law enforcement and fire safety agencies. “I look forward to once again working with Fire Chief Kalkbrenner,” Williams says. “We have worked together in the past and I look forward to proudly representing the City of Phoenix in my role as police chief.”
Williams acknowledges the challenges facing police after the rash of police-involved shootings in recent years. “Law enforcement must be willing to sit at the table and listen to how some people have misused the power of the badge,” she says. “At the same time I believe it’s important for the public to hear the voices of law enforcement and the challenges our officers face… My vision is that the community and the men and women of [the Phoenix PD] work together to keep building trust and legitimacy… The community and the police should be one cohesive group of people who want peace and safety.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a Phoenix police officer who served under “roughly three chiefs and two interim chiefs” approves of the selection process and of Williams. “This seems like it’s more publicized. I know they’re trying to be more transparent with everything… as far as current politics go.” She says after the “resentment and distrust and lack of respect” Garcia fostered among officers, the force is ready for a homegrown chief who knows firsthand the challenges and opportunities of running a police department here. “Having Garcia come in and the whole, ‘We did this in Texas this way…’” she shakes her head. “OK, well, this is Phoenix. This isn’t Texas. This is what we have going on in our city. It’s enormous. It’s densely populated… The politics and what the city council has done or not done, knowing how things have historically been dealt with in a city I think is also critical to making future decisions.”
Dohoney concurs. “Chief Williams is poised, engaging, technically competent and thoughtful about what the delivery of police services needs to look like in the 21st century,” he says. “She knows Phoenix, she has a rapport with other agencies and intellectually she appreciates the value of community policing, commitment to training, de-escalation and caring for those she is charged to lead.”
