(KRON) — The Oakland Police Commission has sent over a list of finalists for Oakland’s next police chief to Mayor Barbara Lee. Only now, they won’t be releasing the list of names or holding a community forum for the finalists.
“This time we really felt like we needed to run a more traditional process that was in line with other jurisdictions, and how other decisions are made,” said Ricardo Garcia-Acosta, chair of the Oakland Police Commission.
Garcia-Acosta says holding a public forum and releasing the names of the finalists is not required and the commission felt keeping things private attracted a larger group of qualified candidates.
“We did not want to risk the chance of even one qualified candidate that was interested not throwing their name in the hat, because of the chance of exposing their candidacy and jeopardizing their current position,” he said.
But that’s not sitting well with all members of the community.
“The commission is always talking about transparency, so we expect you know nothing less than that,” said community activist Carl Chan.
Despite numerous community forums at the front end of the process, Chan says he doesn’t like that these final names are being withheld at the end of the process.
“With this in a secret so-called slate being submitted, we feel strongly that these names should be released to the public,” he said.
Mayor Lee says she’s already reviewing the list of finalists, though it’s unknown if she will release that list. She’s expected to choose her new police chief sometime in mid-to-late July. Current Interim Chief James Beere has said he’s applied for the job, though it is not known whether he is among the finalists.
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