Recruiting San Jose’s Police Chief
By Cinthia Rodriguez – El Observador

The series of five community meetings on the subject of recruiting the next San Jose police chief began on Tuesday, August 24, at the Roosevelt Community Center.
The meeting started with a short presentation by Ms. Teri Black, Teri Black & Company, a public sector executive recruitment firm, who described the recruitment process.
“This is the very beginning of the process, we have a lot of work to do,” said Teri Black.
The Process includes taking the input and creating the marketing campaign that summarizes the feedback received at all the community meetings. Black explained that they would be out in the street for recruitment and talk to people on phone or in person and talk about what they’re looking for in a police chief.
“There will be no secrets about what San Jose is looking for,” said Debra Figone, City Manager.
The recruitment process will end during October and the top candidates will be interviewed, ending with a thorough background and reference check.
“We will actually have diverse representation on the interview panel and those will be confidential,” said Figone. “We want to protect the confidentiality of the candidate as well as the panelists.”
The community members that attended the meeting were asked five questions pertaining to the ideal candidate to facilitate discussion amongst them. The suggestions from each group were written down and summarized at the end of the meeting.
"We want a better change and to be treated better because right now there is a lot of racism in the police department and that is what we are asking for, change," said Laura Villalobos, Sacred Heart Community Leader. “One suggestion that I made was that more than anything, the officer should have more communication with the community and it is a good idea to send a flyer saying the officer's name and phone number patrolling the area."
Among the themes summarized was transparency, leadership, experience with diverse demographics such as those of San Jose, recognizing the needs of youth, and have an active accessible police chief in the community.
“To become the boss, the candidate must have an excellent background with a lot of experience,” said Ed Cadia, physical therapist. “Honesty with a conscious, communicative, competitive, and a partial person.”
San Jose’s Police Chief oversees the operations of approximately 1700 police department employees (1273 sworn positions) in 4 Bureaus comprised of 10 divisions with more than 70 specialized Units and assignments providing police services for our community of more than 1 million residents. It’s a complex organizational operation.
“Putting so many suspects in jail will not solve anything, crime will continue to grow even if we have the best police chief, he will do his job but some changes lie in the community,” said Cadia.
Residents who are unable to attend a community meeting, but would like to submit written comment, may do so by sending an email to info@tbcrecruiting.com or complete the online survey at www.sanjoseca.gov. If you are interested in providing input regarding the upcoming recruitment process for the Police Chief, you are encouraged to attend the citywide meeting on Monday, August 30 at City Hall Committee Rooms 118, 119, 120 from 6:00-8:00pm.