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Seattle's Community Police Commission calls for a pause on police chief search

There is call from Seattle’s Community Police Commission to stop the search for Seattle's next police chief. The commission says it has "significant" concerns over the process that eliminated interim Chief Carmen Best from consideration. Mayor Jenny Durkan, speaking at another event, said the city's process has been thorough and should move forward. The SCPC wants to know why Best was left out.

Isaac Ruiz is co-chair of the SCPC and spoke to KIRO 7 about a letter all the commissioners sent to the Seattle City Council, asking for the group to not hold any hearings on the new police chief.

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“The community expects us to be independent. It expects to ask the difficult questions. Certainly what we don’t want is for the CPC to make a recommendation and release its findings and it’s too late to make a difference.”

Ruiz and the rest of his fellow commissioners unanimously endorsed the idea of pausing the search for a new police chief as it takes a look at how the field was whittled down.

The CPC wants to see any and all documents about the search with a focus on the process that eliminated the field from five to three candidates, says Ruiz.

“I’m having a very hard time getting a clear understanding of what that search process looked like… eliminating the only black woman candidate for chief.”

While the commission’s letter and public statements says a highly qualified local candidate who is a woman was eliminated, it is clear that the candidate they are referring to is Best. Ruiz recognizes that not picking Best has called some to question the process.

“There are certainly members of the CPC who feel very strongly that she should have been a finalist,” Ruiz said.

Durkan says the process has been painstaking, and the latest round of eliminations came with a mandated competitive exam. “I feel very good about where we are in the search. I was able to meet the final three candidates for the first time last week,” Durkan said.

The mayor said the final three candidates -- Eddie Frizell, Cameron McLay and Ely Reyes -- should move forward. “We’re going to the cities where each of these people worked so we can really do an in-depth look at how they work in the community, how they work with businesses, what kind of cops are they. From that they’ll come back to me, we’ll interview them at length and then I’ll make a selection.”

Amy Madden is with the District 43 District Democrats and has joined the CPC effort to take a closer look at all documents related to the search -- with a concern if any bias affected it. “Our communities are at a breaking point calling for real reform of our justice systems. It’s really hard to trust in a non-transparent police chief search process.”

Madden also wonders about a process that eliminated Best. “Chief Best is such a highly qualified candidate, so highly skilled it calls into question why she was removed from the list.”

Representatives for Durkan say documents will be provided as the search continues.

The Seattle Police Department said neither the department or Best have any comment.