When Dallas City Manager Ted Benavides fired Police Chief Terrell Bolton in August, the only downside to the deal—besides the resultant crying, the parading of banners bearing racial epithets, and, of course, the suing—was that a new chief would need to be found. And that task would fall to Benavides, a man whose talents in the realm of HR are questionable. You’ll recall that Benavides hired Bolton without interviewing him—without interviewing anyone.
So it was no surprise that the search for a new chief, due to wrap up later this month, was a mess right from the start. Benavides chose a search firm better suited to identify a high school class president than a leader of a 3,000-member crime-fighting force in the eighth-largest city in the nation. Georgia-based Slavin Management Consultants hadn’t done a search for a big-city police chief in a decade. We’re paying them $25,000, about half of what some big cities have recently spent to find a chief.
The application deadline had to be extended because Slavin failed to post the job opening as planned in a national law-enforcement magazine. Oops. One of the best applicants, a deputy chief in Los Angeles, withdrew his name from consideration—because he never actually applied. Then, when the final list of 70 applicants was made public, several City Council members said they wanted to extend the search period. Too few quality candidates, they said.
“At first blush, this list doesn’t get me too excited,” Councilman Mitchell Rasansky told the Morning News. “Am I interested in looking at a bunch of police chiefs from a city the size of Waxahachie? No.”
This insulted an assistant chief in Miami who had applied, and he withdrew. Mayor Laura Miller had to call him and beg him to reapply, which was probably a violation of the city charter.
Then came the best part: the Slavin firm narrowed the field and called the 15 finalists to congratulate them. Only Benavides decided the list should have just 12 names on it, so when he publicly announced the dozen finalists, Slavin had to call a few folks and apologize. Double oops.
Here’s the shocking news, though: the pool of applicants was actually quite remarkable. People we spoke with in the law-enforcement community in town said they were amazed so many qualified people wanted the job. It doesn’t come with a contract. It pays poorly (about $140,000 a year; the chief in Plano, with only 320 officers, earns $119,000; the chief for DISD, with 31 officers, earns $128,000). Crime is worse here than in any other big U.S. city (a Dallas resident is three times more likely to be a victim of a crime than someone in New York City). And your boss is Ted Benavides.
Whatever. The horses got out of the barn a long time ago. And if Rasansky can criticize the list, we can, too. Only we went beyond first blush. We obtained the résumé of every applicant through an open-records request. From those on the bubble to those who never had a chance, here are the highlights:
Best deployment of euphemism: Until 2003, Richard Michael Bond was the public safety director of Gainesville, Georgia, a department with 200 employees. “Professional Experience, 1980-1985: Responsible for … developing public and community support for a police agency in a community where significant segments of the population manifested negative feelings toward law and order.”
Most bitchin’: Vincent J. Aurentz is a police sergeant in Dallas. According to his résumé, not only is he “friendly” and “outgoing,” but also he is “firm and in charge.” Plus, he implemented and supervised the Camaro Squad.
Most poetic: William B. Berger is the chief of police for North Miami Beach. He has developed more than 50 programs, including: “Grunch,” “Night Eyes,” “Blue Halo,” “Brush with the Law,” and “No Drugs No Kidding.” He enjoys quality family time, chess, reading, gardening, and traveling.
Why use a recruiter to hire a cop when you can just hire a recruiter? Richard R. Cullen is the president and CEO of Cullen International Executive Search in Newnan, Georgia, which he describes thusly: “Executive search and recruitment company conducting search engagements for police chief and criminal justice executives and corporate directors of security for Fortune 1000 companies.”
Best aspiration: Evelyn F. Daniel was most recently an emergency medical technician at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, but she is currently unemployed. So she wrote a letter. “Dear Mayor Miller,” it began. “My name is Evelyn F. Daniel, and I am requesting your sincere consideration in the position of chief of police for the city of Dallas. Because of the urgency of my submitting my application, I did not have time to include a résumé; however, I can assure you that I have definite practical knowledge and experience on a firsthand level to completely attack the crime and strategize against future crimes in this lovely city called Dallas. … On a National and Internationally [sic] level, I have personally spoken with the most prestigious dignitaries of our era, and feel that I personally know them. There is quite a large amount of knowledge and experience I have on a practical level that can certainly benefit the city of Dallas on a criminal level.”
Most lethal: Kenneth Ray Snead Sr. was most recently the chief of police in Village of Bald Head Island, North Carolina. Under the heading of “Work Status,” his résumé says: “authorized to work in the United States for any employer.” From 1978 to 1994, he was with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and “worked undercover in many capacities such as drug purchases and contract killer.”
Brings new meaning to the phrase “he belongs behind bars”: Robert A. Bishopp is chief of police in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. Under “Work Experience,” his résumé says that from 1982 to 1989 he honed his skills at Bob’s Hideaway: “Proprietor of restaurant and tavern. Fully responsible for daily operations, financial decisions, and inventory. Conducted hiring and training of all employees, established payroll and benefits systems and employee scheduling.” In September 2001, he completed a course called “Introduction to Street Spanish.”
Most likely to ask for a raise—and get it: James H. Bolden is the director of police in Memphis, Tennessee. He has what looks to be a Mercator projection map of the globe at the top of his résumé. Or maybe it’s a Winkel Tripel projection. Tough to say. But Bolden is “articulate and persuasive in negotiating terms of contract agreements.”
Best use of sonar: Steve Elwonger is a patrol officer in Dallas. His career objective: “to reduce the crime rate of the city, increase moral [sic] within the department, and balance the racial difficulties within the community.” One of his selected career highlights: “received recognition for apprehending two break-in suspects on foot and in total darkness.”
Most contradictory: W. Barnett Jones’ résumé says he is “currently, chief of police for the city of Sterling Heights [Michigan].” Two lines down, he lists his employment experience: “Chief Sterling Heights Police Department (2000-October ’02).”
Best read: Armando Nava Jr. is a commander in the El Paso police department. His résumé lists 14 magazines to which he subscribes. The majority pertain to law enforcement.
Great life. Great price: William O. Russell is a loss-prevention associate for Sears, Roebuck and Company in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
This one gave us a twinge of guilt: Jason Tenner is a part-time security guard for American Security in Omaha, Nebraska. He described his work thusly: “If a situation were to occur, I would radio it to the Command Post and they would make the necessary calls to get the problem resolved. If there were no negative problems with the account I would do my everyday check sheet to annotate all was secure.”
Before American Security, he held the title of frozen food lead at HEB Pantry from 1998 to 2000. “I was in charge of the ordering, stocking, cleaning, inventory, and maintenance of my frozen food coolers. Other jobs I did around the store was loading and unloading of trucks, bagging groceries, being a cashier, helping other departments who were behind, clearing the back room, and building displays for ad item. While at HEB I was awarded a certificate for excellent customer service, and having an outstanding work attendance.”
Prior to that, he was a stocker at Super K-Mart. “My duties and responsibilities as a stocker varied into a variety of things.”
Finally, he lists his job-related skills: “As for machinery I’ve operated, this includes: copiers, fax machines, spreadsheets, Microsoft word, power point, excel, internet, and instant messenger.”
Additional reporting by Allison Hatfield, Ashley Womble, and Stacey Yervasi
