Colton Undecided On Who To Interview

 

by Mike Deupree, Gazette City Hall Reporter, 6-14-1977

 

Safety Commissioner Ed Colton said Tuesday he has not yet made a decision about which candidates should be interview for the job of police chief.

 

Colton Tuesday released part of the civil service commission list of those eligible for the job, which has been vacant since Colton fired Wallace LaPeters last August.

 

The 10 candidates were ranked by the civil service commission according to their scores on testing procedures provided by the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, Inc.

 

Six of the 10 are from out of town, and Colton refused to identify them, on the basis that to do so could jeopardize their present jobs.

 

However, he did release the rankings of the four local men who applied. Capt. Raymond Baker was listed first and Assistant Chief Gareth Clift second on the over-all list. LaPeters ranked fifth and Assistant Chief Wallace Johnson tenth.

 

Clift has been serving as acting chief since LaPeters was fired for alleged insubordination. Prior to that action Colton had tried to appoint Baker chief of police, while LaPeters still held the job, a move that failed when his resolution of appointment failed to receive a second.

 

No action is expected on Colton’s part until at least next week, when Mayor Don Canney returns from vacation.

 

Although the rankings by the civil service commission carry some weight, all ten men are considered qualified for the position and the top ranked candidate need not be the selection.

 

The subject came up only briefly during Tuesday’s informal city council meeting.

 

It was broached by Luther Trent, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, who said his organization wants the council to take into consideration the candidates’ background of race relations when selecting a chief.

 

“We’re not only concerned with getting them (blacks) on the police force,” Trent said, “we want them to stay, and we think the attitude of the chief will have a lot to do with that.”

 

Trent said he knows of one black former officer who believes he was “harassed off the job” and that the man’s experience has made it difficult to recruit black applicants for police jobs.

 

Parks Commissioner Stan Reinis said he doesn’t plan to confirm any choice Colton might make prior to the election, because he doesn’t want the chief’s job to become a political issue.

 

Colton replied he plans to nominate a chief before the election.

 

“I don’t think you can keep this out of politics,” he told Reinis. “The reason it is political now is because it’s been delayed this long already.”

 

He added that if a choice isn’t made now, it’s likely candidates for safety commissioner will run on the basis of who they plan to pick as chief.