St. Louis Police Chief John Hayden will postpone his February retirement date as the search for his replacement continues.
“The mayor’s hope for the people of the city of St. Louis is that there is a fair and transparent application process to select the most qualified candidates,”
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ administration confirmed this postponement Tuesday morning and noted the search for his replacement is still underway.
While Jones does not have unilateral authority to restart the police chief search herself, she told The St. Louis American last week she wants to scrap the current search and start over after facing difficulties created by a former city leader, personnel department director Rick Frank.
The Department of Personnel and the St. Louis Civil Service Commission are in charge of determining final candidates for the position, and Dan Isom, the city’s director of public safety, would then choose a candidate from that pool.
“I only had two white male candidates to choose from and St. Louis is more diverse than white males, our police department is more diverse—there were a lot of diverse candidates within the police department who were kicked out of the first round so I want to start over to find the right candidate,” Jones said last week.
Sources in Jones’ administration told The St. Louis American in December the personnel department rejected the majority of 30 people nationwide who applied for the position and administered a written test to only two internal candidates, who are both white, but did not administer a virtual version of the test to the other four out-of-state candidates.
“[Jones] views the Civil Service Commission’s concerns about the lack of virtual testing and marketing firm as valid,” Dunne said.
Jones said she plans on appointing an interim director of the personnel department first and hopes a new search will follow that appointment.
“The mayor’s hope for the people of the city of St. Louis is that there is a fair and transparent application process to select the most qualified candidates,” her spokesperson Nick Dunne said.
Hayden could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hayden announced his retirement in September after serving approximately four years as chief. His initial plan was to step down Feb. 23, the day marking his 35th anniversary with the department.
Hayden was met with a host of challenges as chief, including a record-breaking homicide rate in 2020, the pandemic and several high-profile incidents including three white police officers charged with beating a handcuffed Black detective, Luther Hall; the death of officer Katlyn Alix who was shot and killed by fellow officer Nathaniel Hendren while he was on duty in January 2019; and local protests in summer 2020 over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
