For assistants, top LR officer gets more say

Chief must play active role in interviews, Buckner says

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --2/26/15-- Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner (center) speaks Thursday afternoon about proposed police promotion guidelines at a Little Rock civil service commission meeting.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --2/26/15-- Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner (center) speaks Thursday afternoon about proposed police promotion guidelines at a Little Rock civil service commission meeting.

The Little Rock Civil Service Commission approved a policy Thursday that expands the police chief's role in the selection of assistant chiefs.

New guidelines on the department's promotion process, written at the request of Chief Kenton Buckner, say that a candidate for assistant chief will interview with a panel that includes the chief or a police designee. Under previous guidelines, the chief was not involved in the interview process, which accounts for half of a candidate's 100-point evaluation.

The chief picks an assistant chief from the three highest-rated candidates.

"I do not want to be a spectator to this process," Buckner told the commission at a hearing. "Currently we have a process that spits out three names. The chief has the latitude to pick between one and three, and state law gives him the right to do so. Well, I want to be actively engaged in the process. I want to see the candidates while they are competing. I want to see the candidates while they are under pressure."

The rest of the interview panel is composed of a law enforcement officer who is an assistant chief or higher from outside Little Rock and a city executive chosen by the city manager or human resources director.

The interview contains questions on interpersonal skills and stress-coping ability, as well as hypothetical scenarios designed to test a candidate's judgment. Under the new policy, candidates may review and appeal their scores in the interview.

A candidate's professional experience, as verified by the city and graded by a panel of out-of-state lawmen, still accounts for the other half of the evaluation.

The new policy took effect with one vacancy for assistant chief at the Police Department. Eric Higgins, former supervisor of the department's Executive Bureau, retired Jan. 31 more than 30 years on the force.

Assistant chief Wayne Bewley of the Field Services Bureau and Assistant chief Hawyard Finks of the Investigative and Support Bureau, both of whom attended Thursday's hearing, are sharing Higgins' former responsibilities until his replacement is named.

The seven-person commission approved the new policy with two amendments, one of which clarified that a city executive appointed to the interview process can be from within Arkansas. Little Rock Human Resources Employment Manager Kathleen Walker said the appointee likely will be a human resources director or assistant director from another city.

The other amendment eliminated panel interviews conducted by the commission. The commission previously interviewed the top three candidates for assistant chief and issued a nonbinding recommendation for promotion.

"I don't want it to be perceived by the public, in any way, shape or form, that the commission is making a recommendation that may sway, in one way or the other, the chief of police," said commissioner Roger Ball, who proposed the amendment.

Commissioner Jeff Hildebrand said he didn't disagree with Ball's sentiment but noted that their job is to represent the people of Little Rock.

In response, commissioner James Hudson said the group's primary responsibility is to provide oversight and ensure "a fair process that's a transparent process."

"The citizens do look to us to give that oversight, to ensure that our police officers are caring for our community the way we want them to. And they seem to be doing that," he said.

Former Police Chief Stuart Thomas' appointment of Bewley and Finks in 2012 led to two lawsuits against the city claiming the promotion process was biased.

Capt. Alice Fulk, who was rated higher than Finks but lower than Bewley, claimed there was a "glass ceiling" for women at the department.

Capt. Patrice Smith said she was denied the promotion because of her race and sex. Smith is black.

The suits are ongoing.

At Thursday's hearing, Buckner said he'd heard similar complaints during his eight months at the department.

"I get a lot of rumblings from our folks who don't trust the process or they're suspicious of the things going on. In many cases, I think it's just perception," he said. "I think that we do a good job of protecting the process. I think our process has integrity. But there are a number of things that we can do administratively to reinforce that it is a fair process, that it is a level playing field."

The new promotion policy was approved with the support of the Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police. Officer John Gilchrist, the group's vice president, said no system is perfect, but "we feel that the chief needs to have the ability to appoint those people or have hands-on ability to identify those people that are going to lead this organization."

Arkansas law states that oral examinations are allowed in the promotion process for firefighters and police officers, but they must be "fair," "impartial" and "free of favoritism, politics or other impropriety."

The commission Thursday also certified a list of candidates to replace retired Capt. Terry Hastings as commander of the department's southwest division.

The top-rated candidate is Lt. Tanya Washington of the northwest division, a 20-year veteran and former head of the department's Community Oriented Policing program. Washington was the first black woman to be assigned to the department's homicide division.

Ranked behind Washington is Lt. Heath Helton, who is commander of the River Market District unit in the downtown division. Helton is a former U.S. Army sergeant who joined the department in 1996 and has worked in the SWAT and training divisions.

The third-rated candidate is Lt. Marcus Paxton, a veteran of more than 21 years and former narcotics investigator who is on special assignment in the southwest division. Paxton received the Rotary Club of Little Rock's Chief Lawrence Johnson Leadership Award last year.

Twelve people applied for the job.

Hastings retired in January after 38 years on the force, 18 of which he spent as department spokesman.

Metro on 03/02/2015

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