Is Bellevue Police Department going for B-listers in chief search?

Updated: Friday 3:11 p.m.

The Bellevue Police Department has unveiled four finalists for the police chief position.

Just a few months ago, Bellevue PD all but offered the job to a candidate among a different set of police chief finalists. But that person pulled out of the running. The city decided to start their search from scratch, believing the other four candidates weren’t right for the job.

After another search, we get four new finalists.
Earlier this week, I asked whether any of the current finalists applied for the job in the past. If they had, there are some obvious implications.

Had one of them applied the first time around and didn’t even make the finalists cut – while the four others who were picked were ultimately rejected because they weren’t strong enough or the best fit – and now they suddenly make the finalists list, it could appear to some that Bellevue is going for a B-lister to run the department.

When we initially asked, the Bellevue PD told us they didn’t know and couldn’t tell us because it is private information.

Fair enough.

But Thursday at a meet and greet, the finalists were asked if they applied in the past and guess what? Two of the four applied the first time around.

Drew Tracy, former assistant chief out of Montgomery County, Maryland and Gary Yamashiroya, division commanders from the Chicago PD, both applied for this position the first time around.

They weren’t the finalists then. They apparently weren’t good enough then, and now, they’re finalists.

This is rather interesting because it indicates a number of potential problems with these candidates or the search.
These could legitimately be the B-listers. You couldn’t get Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt or even Chris Pratt, so you got…Arnold Schwarzanegger.

Sure, he was once an A-lister guaranteed to bring you in a hundred million and a great film, but now, he stars in “Escape Plan” or “The Last Stand.”

Now, it doesn’t mean these two candidates aren’t good. It doesn’t mean that at all. You don’t get to where these two guys got to without being damn good at your job.

But, if they weren’t good before, why are they good now? Remember, the three other finalists from the last time around were dismissed. These two applied and didn’t even make the finalist cut. What’s changed?

For their part, the city rejects that characterization.

“We refute that,” Emily Christensen, chief communications officer in Bellevue, told me in a call this afternoon. “We feel they’re all highly qualified individuals. Now it comes down to if they’re the best for Bellevue.”

But the question for many will still be, Is the city of Bellevue settling?

Now, it’s true that the issues facing the city of Bellevue’s police department isn’t grave. This isn’t a police department in shambles. The issues seem to have to do with getting their house in order. They had some embarrassing cases last year with personnel misbehaving.

So I don’t doubt these folks are ultimately qualified, but I think the city is owed some answers.

It could also indicate that the search firm didn’t realize how good these people were the first time, and at the end of the first search, the city of Bellevue paid over $21,000 to the search firm, the Mercer Group. If they couldn’t ID these two candidates the first time around, did Bellevue get their money’s worth?

Christensen tells me that the city has changed recruiters, this time partnering with Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). She says the city and Mercer Group mutually decided to part ways, but I did get the impression that the city is happier with PERF.

“We were pleased with what Mercer brought forward, but knew we wanted to do this different,” Christensen told me, pointing out that Mercer thought they brought the best candidates forward. Obviously, the city disagreed since they didn’t hire any of them, though did say Mercer group “certainly brought forward a highly qualified pool of candidates.”

This time around, with PERF, they’ve changed the recruitment process, which included Skype interviews before the finalist announcement, so they could get a better idea of the applicant’s personalities.

But one consequence with picking two finalists that didn’t make the cut before, someone may reasonably believe the city really only has two finalists they’re serious about: Chuck Miller, assistant chief with the Phoenix Police Department or Stephen Mylett who is currently chief of the Southlake, Texas Police Department, but they want four candidates for optics, which would obviously be unfair to these two candidates.

Christensen disagrees, arguing the city sees all the finalists as “top candidates.”