Mayor says he plans to meet this week with a citizens group. 
Frederick, Md (KM) A search is continuing for a new police chief for the City of Frederick. Mayor Michael O’Connor says he has a meeting later this week with a citizens group helping with the engagement and outreach part of the search.
“We want to talk to them about the approach that we want to take with pulling the community into the selection process,” he says. “My hope would be that we would post the position in the next couple of weeks. It would be out there for 30-days, probably.”
In February, Former Chief Ed Hargis retired. Captain Patrick Grossman has been Acting Chief since that time.
Speaking recently on WFMD’s “Morning News Express,” Mayor O’Connor said it’s important for the public to be involved. “This citizens advisory team, or search committee, or steering committee–call it anything you want to–it’s citizens representing some diverse constituency group within the community will help to make sure that we’re talking to the public about their hopes and their expectations for the police department,” he says.
The Mayor says the city’s Police Department has been pro-active in developing relationships with the community. “One of the things we benefit from in the city of Frederick is a really strong relationship between the police and the community,” he says. “And that’s because over the last 15 of 20 years, our department has done an outstanding job of really building a community policing mindset of working with communities, of being present in neighborhoods.”
No timetable has been set on hiring a new police chief.
By Kevin McManus