Police board limits search for chief to within its ranks, At least six good candidates, El-Chantiry says

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By Laura Mueller

EMC news -Ottawa is set to promote its first police chief from within its ranks in a dozen years.

During a meeting on Jan. 23, police services board members agreed that limiting the search for Vern White's replacement to members of the Ottawa police is the best plan.

"They, like me, feel the service is more than ever able to pick the chief within the organization," said Eli El-Chantiry, head of the police services board and councillor for West Carleton-March.

The position of chief will be vacated on Feb. 20 when White takes over a seat in the Senate.

A national search would take around three months, El-Chantiry said, and that would require the appointment of an interim chief who would not be a candidate for the chief's position.

But even limiting the search to an internal candidate will necessitate the appointment of an interim chief, because the board doesn't anticipate being able to choose a new chief by the Feb. 20 deadline, El-Chantiry said.

The last chief to have been promoted from within the force's ranks was Brian Ford, who served as chief from 1993 to 2000.

During the Jan. 23 meeting, the police services board could have voted to limit the search to the two deputy chiefs, to all internal candidates, or whether to look outside the force for a new chief. In the end, during a closed-door session, the board chose to leave the competition open to all candidates within the police force.

"I was very pleased to know we went internally," El-Chantiry said.

That will ensure it's a fair process, El-Chantiry said. He said he has no favourite candidates at this time, but he envisions about two or three people applying for the job.

As to whether the board is concerned about criticism that it should have sought the best candidate from a wider, national pool rather than limiting the search, El-Chantiry said any decision will be criticized.

He noted that the board has previously been criticized for not selecting a local candidate for chief.

El-Chantiry is convinced that the succession planning the board directed White to undertake has paid off, and the best candidate will be an offi-cer from the force.

"We have good candidates. We have more than half a dozen people fully bilingual, fully educated," El-Chantiry said. "We get to choose, not just from one or two, but we have quite a few of them."

Two of the top candidates are the deputy chiefs: Chuck Bordeleau and Gilles Larochelle.

White himself won't be involved in the search for his replacement, but he said he has total confidence in the candidates that will come from within the force.

"It is almost a coin toss between these two," White said. "They are very different in many ways, but they are also very similar when it comes to leadership."

He added that he thinks either one would make a good chief, either in Ottawa or another municipality.

There are no legal requirements to publically post the position -final authority rests with the police board to choose whoever the members prefer, El-Chantiry said.

laura.mueller@metroland.com