Asheville One Step Closer to New Police Chief

Staff Reports

The city of Asheville is one step closer to having a new police chief. In September, input was collected through numerous community and staff input meetings. The input provided important insight into the unique skill set needed by the next successful police chief and was integrated into the job announcement as well as the evaluation tool used to evaluate each candidate.

The position was advertised nationally utilizing a variety of sources
and methods which resulted in over 100 applicants from all over the
country.

At the beginning of this month, nine finalists were invited to
Asheville for a two-day assessment center process where each candidate
was faced with a series of exercises intended to evaluate his or her
ability to perform his or her job in real life situations. Evaluators in
the process included key community stakeholders, police executives from
across the state and city staff members.

Once the assessment center evaluations are complete, the
candidate field will be narrowed again. The narrowed field of finalists
will be invited back to Asheville for a panel interview with department
directors and the city manager. The goal is to announce the new police
chief in mid- to late January.