A central Arkansas city named a new police chief Tuesday morning, two months after an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling disqualified the previous chief.
John Franklin will be sworn in as Jacksonville's police chief in the coming weeks, according to Mayor Gary Fletcher. His first day of work will be June 4, Fletcher said.
Franklin served more than 28 years with the Chicago Police Department, according to a biography provided by the Jacksonville mayor's office. He retired from the department in 2010, then worked as an adjunct professor of criminal justice studies at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago.
He then served as police chief in Dolton, Ill., from 2013 to 2015 before continuing his career in education, the mayor's office said. Franklin reportedly has a bachelor's degree in communications and a master's degree in criminal justice. He has also received a certification from the Northwestern University Center of Public Safety, according to the biography.
The city received 36 applications for the position and interviewed five finalists, Fletcher said Tuesday. Franklin is not one of the three finalists that the city named in April.
Jacksonville began looking for a new police chief last month after the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that a past false-report conviction disqualified Geoffrey Herweg, the city’s former police chief, from serving in the position. Court records show Herweg pleaded guilty in 2002 to giving a false report to a police officer in Texas.
Herweg had been sworn in as Jacksonville’s police chief in April 2017 and served as chief until June, when a Pulaski County Circuit Court judge removed him pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by Jacksonville City Council member Tara Smith.
After the ruling, Fletcher appointed City Attorney Robert Bamburg as police director.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Ryan Tarinelli contributed to this story.