The City of Concord is asking the community for input about what characteristics the next Chief of Police should bring to the job. To gather the information, the City has launched a survey asking community members what the City Manager should consider when filing this leadership role.
This fall, current Police Chief Guy Swanger announced his retirement after nine years with the Concord Police Department.
The City is working with a recruiting firm to identify the most qualified candidates to fill this role, which is expected to happen in Spring of 2020.
The survey can be accessed by clicking HERE.
The deadline for completion is December 20, 2019.
Uuuhhh im sorry I’m confused
So the city council hired and supplied premium pay and benefits for a city manager ….what ever that is
Now the city managers duties are passed onto a few polls directed towards socialism of course
So we will end up with a sheriff from the village people
Following political narratives and spreading dissent in the policing activities
Who actually thinks this stuff up
Oh gee I don’t know a sheriff who is tough on crime maybe or does not allow repeated crimes in parking lots or gee I do t know maybe help get rid of the gangs and drugs in the schools and actually allow the kids to learn and not be imprisoned in a gang first society because their parents have no choice as the state has decreed illegals free reign
Put it in the survey.
Please take to survey
Took the survey. I don’t expect much good will come of it, it is a survey with canned multiple choice answers, though it does have a space at the end to leave comments, which I did.
I know a lot about a lot of things, and I have opinions on virtually everything, including what the police should be doing and what they should not be doing. However, it seems a little silly to me to solicit opinions from the general public about police chief hiring criteria. I would HOPE that the city manager and council have more expertise for selecting a candidate for such a high position, but maybe not.
Please make it clear that we understand police work is not always pretty and a need a chief that will stand by the troops so they can Kick A$$ and Take Names!
I vote Russ Norris (son of Chuck Norris) for next Chief of Police. He helped me stay out of trouble and was diligent in getting things done.
I was going to say that the good and normal citizens need to surely get their input in, as the ‘ social advocates ‘ will certainly flood get their input in. They of course will want a police chief that puts all the trendy issues above real safety and law enforcement. You know, all the buzz words: inclusion, diversity, LGBQ rights,. Im igrant rights, Black & brown lives matter above others….et cetera et cetera.
I was going to say that the good and normal citizens need to surely get their input in, as the ‘ social advocates ‘ will certainly flood their input in. They of course will want a police chief that puts all the trendy issues above real safety and law enforcement. You know, all the buzz words: inclusion, diversity, LGBQ rights,. Immegrant rights, black & brown lives matter above others….et cetera et cetera.
Oh let’s see, how about one that agrees to work for the salary of the highest paid governor ( Newsome @ $210,000 ) PLUS $2,000 a month. That’s a tidy sum $234,000 a year.
That’s a pay cut of about $150,000 . My my .
Promote from within. We need someone that knows Concord, knows the areas, knows the officers, knows how it used to be here.
No need to hire a retread from another agency just trying to get a 2nd or 3rd pension lined up for retirement with no skin in the game.
I agree. I used to think it was pretty cool to acquire multiple pensions but now with the payout so ridiculously high, taxes are raised on the poor to line bank accounts for the newly rich.
This is how much swamp creatures care about the people.
@ Whatever, very eloquently said, no lame ducks!
Makes sense. Hired a motivated promotee who wants to put a feather in his cap in his first go at being Chief.
Either they’ll stay for life, or they’ll try really hard the next 5-10 years to make a name for themselves and at least do some good while they’re at it.
I lived in Concord for 3 years and moved to Clayton 42 years ago where I still live. Even though I don’t live in Concord, the effectiveness of the Concord Police affects me, so I filled out the survey. It seems to me that the one thing that matters most is being effective in reducing crime; everything else is “nice to have.” Forget the “touchy feely” nonsense (I almost used a four letter word that starts with a c and ends with a p) and hire a good cop who can run an effective police department.
See, I would categorize the c – p word as an acceptable substitute for the s- t word. Kind of like saying “aw fudge” instead of the other thing. I think it’s an impolite word but not an obscene word. I always thought there were only the official “seven words” plus a couple extra, but it seems now days there is a higher tolerance for obscenity while simultaneously there are more words that can get you in hot water. I actually got an official reprimand at work for calling a piece of equipment “garbage” while stressing that we needed a replacement. I am actively looking for a new job. Not necessarily because of that, but just too many things like that.
The new chief should be a penguin!
Is someone on the current force qualified to be the Chief? The outgoing one is making, in my opinion, way too much money. We need to pay the new one less money than we are paying now. Too much of our budget is going to the police force.
Good at “collective bargaining”? Dealing with “Individuals experiencing homelessness”? How about “focused on preventing crime, investigation of crime and prosecution of criminals, through fair but tough and consistent standards that put honest, tax paying citizens first”.
Tired of the nammy-pammy way we police now days. There is always an excuse why the thieves and criminals get off. Poor this, poor that. Enough of that. The citizens who expect and should demand, just like all the other social groups, to be heard and not silenced. We have that right not to be told go away and be censored. We have to listen to all the other garbage daily. It is about time we are heard and allowed to be heard. I don’t like a lot of what the liberals are saying, but I am forced to live with it. Fair is fair. Old school rise up.
There really isn’t anyone in-house able to step up, because of the three Captains, one is set to retire in December, another one is looking in that direction, and don’t know about the third one. This usually means bringing someone in from another agency like Swanger was from San Diego.
I believe that The City will take the survey questions and pass them along to the City Council who will acknowledge and then ignore it completely.
I believe that all politicians look down on the people who voted them into office as ignorant fools. With the exception of those who make large donations to their reelection funds.
The survey is just another dog and pony show to make the people believe they have a voice but when in fact they don’t.
Yep
The next chief will be whomever the police union wants it to be.
The next Police Chief in Concord needs to be one that understand the concept of cost effective policing. The City of Concord has been overspending on the police department for many, many years now, and this has hurt our city badly. The damage to our city has been quite extensive.
The outgoing PD chief – Guy Swanger – was one of the biggest spenders ever, he played a key role behind the scenes in driving up wages at the PD, notably his own wage and benefit package. Swanger, at 270,000 a year, was one of the highest paid PD Chief’s in California.
Swanger was paid that despite the fact Concord has little serious crime,the officers mostly just work on nickel and dime stuff, shoplifting cases, car break in’s, breaking up fights at bars.
The City of Concord, historically, has been a low crime suburban city, similiar to Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek. Because of this you cannot justify the huge salaries being paid to the brass over at Concord PD, like the 270,000 that was paid to Chief Swanger. in fact, many believe the size of Swanagers pay package was just criminal.
In addition to his 270,000 salry to Concord PD Chief, Swanger was also collecting a 140,000 a year pension from a previous job, which upped his annual pay to a breathtaking 410,000 a year (Swangers wife is also drawing down a police pension – I’ve been told – and she also has a full time job, so it likely the Swanger’s make in the area 550,000 a year).
I should mention durring the Swanger era at Concord PD it was well known Swanger spent a lot of time working on his investments, Swanger has made a fortune in policing, to the point where he owns stocks, bonds, real estate – Swanger has got a massive portfolio, it’s so massive he’s on the phone half the day managing his investments.
In fact, for much of the 10 years Swanger headed up Concord PD he was really “semi-retired”, he wasn’t working real hard – he didn’t have to because Concord has so little crime – but he stayed on as PDchief due to that massive pay check he was getting. The fact that Swanger last 10 years, that tells you the wage was too good, he wouldn’t leave because the pay was so fantastic.
The same is true of other members of the police brass in Concord, like Captain Garret Voerge – he has become so wealthy working at the Concord PD his high school buddies call him “Champagne Gary (230,000 a year, whcih is more than the WC PD Chief makes, and most other PD Chiefs in the county as well. Like Swanger Voerge has been around a long time – he too won’t retire, the pay is just too good.
One thing I remember about Swanger is he also talked city officials into raising entry level pay for newly hired officers into the stratosphere. Bear in mind we taxpayers had to pay Swanger 270,000 to be the PD Chief in Concord – a city that has very little crime (An average of 3 murders per year over the last 15 years), and we also have had to pay our PD Captains more money than surrounding PD Chief are being paid.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Swanger compounded the overspending going at Concord PD by insisting that rookie officers make all this money. In fact, as a growing number of Concord taxpayers are aware, virtually any officer at Concord PD can get all the OT they want – even if it’s not needed. Ihn the Swanger era the officers got – ans till get – almost unlimited OT. So it’s not unsual for lowly patrol officers to make 250K a year to investigate shoplifting arrests at the mall or to go out and investigate a car break in.
In addition to the massive salaries being paid to the officers at the Concord PD, engineered by the outgoing Swanger, he also demanded the council fork over huge capital outlways for all the latest PD equipment, new computers, new police cars, helicopters, fleets of Kawaski Motorcycles – every concievable high tech crime fighting gizmo under the sun – I mean this Swanger guy was so aggresive at budget time he would all but pick up whoever the city manager was – turn him upside down, and shake the quarters out of his pocket.
Given how out of control spending has been at the Concord PD during the Chief Swanger era I myself did a war whoop when I heard Swanger was retiring. A year ago I believed Concord would eventually go bankrupt – a 13 million deficit is looming on the horizon – but now that this big spender Chief Swanger has retired we maybe now have a fighting chance to save Concord from joining Vallejo and Stockton in bankruptcy court.
While I haven’t gotten around to reading the questionaire on what traits city officials should be looking for in the new PD chief, I think a key trait our new PD Chief should have is frugality. We need a PD Chief that is tight with the buck, one that is looking our for taxpayers. We need a police Chief that fights to keep wages under contraol at the PD and we need a PD Chief that frowns on unlimited OT for the officers.
We also need a PD Chief that has some ethics, which Swanger clearly didn’t have.. All Swanger cared about in the 10 years he was PD Chief in Concord was keeping his wages sky high, and the wages of those working under him sky high – he cared about nothing else. He wanted the big money to roll into Concord PD, needed or not, and he got that – year after year – from our wimp city council, and a series of doormat city managers, to the detriment of our city.
Another key trait to look for in a new PD Chief is one that understands the importance of spending city dollars on other things – besides policing – like programs for kids, libraries, teen centers and so forth. As it stands now all Concord is – today – is a gigantic police department. Vital city programs have been cut, slashed to the bone, many other worthy programs aren’t being funded at all, and we have Chief Swanger to thank for that. Concord is not as good a city as it used to be, that is Swanger’s legacy, And that’s the legacy of these PD labor union stooges that sit on the council, like McGallian, Obringer, and Hoffmiester.
@ Lars
No Concord does not have a lot of violent crime. However, the non-violent (property) crimes are off the hook. It’s certainly not a “low crime suburban city” like you say. Anyone that watches the crime stats can tell you that. That being said, I do believe he is overpaid.
Pay Lars no mind. Obviously has a personal ax to grind. Lars rants about CPD when ever a door is opened. Such as the above rant.
Just took the survey. Important attributes included “Ability to speak Spanish conversationally”. Really? How about learn English of you want to talk to the Chief. I don’t have a problem with anyone learning any other languages, but in this case, I want a good, competent Chief who is tough on crime, not a bilingual conversationalist.