Santa Maria needs someone to help its police officers recover stolen property. Arrest offenders. Regulate traffic. Investigate complaints.
Those duties and more fall under the stated responsibilities for the city’s chief of police, who has to direct the department’s personnel and equipment in their combined efforts to preserve law and order.
The Santa Maria Police Department has been operating under the interim eye of Ralph Martin, who temporarily took the reins after Danny Macagni’s departure.
Macagni served as chief from 2003 to 2012. The city announced his retirement with full pension on Aug. 3, after he was placed on administrative leave. Martin started work on Aug. 6.
The city began looking for a permanent replacement in early September, and closed the window for applicants at 5 p.m. on Nov. 14.
Locals speculated as to whether Martin, a 35-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, would throw his badge into the ring, but specifics on the applicants are a closely guarded secret.
Deputy City Manager Alicia Lara said privacy rights trump any journalistic inquiries into who’s applied for the job, but she did say she could talk a bit about the process, which involved a nationwide search and input solicited from business partners and the community at large, who offered what attributes and leadership skills they wanted in a chief.
“We have had a good response so far,” she said, adding that city officials are reviewing the applications and are pleased with the quality of candidates from which they can choose.
“We’re going to invite the top candidates to an in-depth interview to explore the breadth of their experience in … their communities that are relative to our community needs,” Lara said.
She also said there will be two panels involved in the process: a community panel and a “subject matter expert panel” made up of chiefs of police and city managers.
Interviews are planned for the end of the month, and city leaders hope to appoint someone by “February sometime,” Lara said.
This article appears in Nov 22-29, 2012.
