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After twice failing the civil service test for the position, current Chief Victor Loo is being forced to step down from his position in August. Ithaca Police Deputy Chief Lauren Signer, Ithaca Police Shift Lieutenant John Beau Saul and Gerald Schoenle, a public safety trainer in Erie County, are vying for the position.
On Thursday the three took turns seated before the seven-member Ithaca Police Chief Interview Panel - which is comprised of city officials, members of the community and members of community police boards - for 45 minutes, 11 question interviews. The meeting was open to the public, but only members of the panel were permitted to ask questions.
* Lauren Signer, who has served as a deputy chief within the department for five years and as acting chief for the department for one year prior to Loo's hire, said she is "well aware of the commitment, sanity, and energy the position requires." And, she says, it is a position in which she is comfortable.
Signer said that her only experience dealing with a city budget - which is a priority of the chief's position - has been during tight times, which means she would have little difficulty dealing with continued budget constraints. Signer added that dealing with tight fiscal times is a management issue with a "focus on the costs we can control."
Following her interview, Signer expressed her gratitude to the city for moving the selection process along quickly opposed to starting anew with a process similar to the year-long search that lead to Loo's hiring.
"Everyone is anxious because we want to set our course and plan for the future," she said. "It's time to get stability and direction."
Signer was the only applicant to actively campaign during the interviews, passing out fliers explaining why she should be selected for the position.
* By the time Beau Saul's interview began, Common Council chambers were filled with supporters lining the walls and spilling into the hallway. Saul, a 22-year veteran of the IPD, has served the department and community in numerous roles. He is a former head of the local chapter of the Police Benevolent Association and the first officer to run the Ithaca Community Policing Initiative.
Saul stressed that as a native of the Ithaca area he has "prepared [his] entire adult life to become your chief."
In his responses, Saul emphasized the need to combine officer and community efforts to improve relations both internally at the IPD and externally with the community.
He talked about financial issues within the department; about how, despite his rank, he has never been granted access to a budgetary meeting; and about a change to geo-policing to help improve relations within the community.
Geo-policing, a more community-based, geographic approach to scheduling versus a traditional time-based scheduling of officers, is something Saul stressed as important to the future of IPD and its perception in the community.
Saul also discussed "wasted tax dollars" spent on overtime pay due to poor scheduling at the department. It's a problem, he says, that could easily be solved, saving the taxpayers and lessening the effects of budget constraints.
* Gerald Schoenle is currently serving as the Director of Public Safety Training for Erie County Central Police Services, based in Williamsville, NY. Prior to this position, Schoenle served in the Buffalo Police Department for 20 years. He left the department as a captain and director of communications.
Schoenle said he believes that strength in management is the best way to lead a department. Schoenle said that when he retired from the police force in Buffalo he believed he might one day return to policing in a chief capacity.
"My goal all along was to do some good things," he said.
Schoenle also has experience with budgets, though not ones as fiscally constrained as Ithaca's current budget. But, he is also familiar with grant writing and believes in getting volunteers to pitch in - a way to both engage the community in the department and to save funds.
As of press time no decision has been made as to who will take over the chief's position. However, according to Civil Service Law, a decision must be made prior to July 17 for Signer, who passed the 2003 test but failed the 2004 test, to qualify.
