BATON ROUGE, LA. (BRPROUD) — On Friday, the Baton Rouge Police Chief Review Committee had a special meeting to discuss interviewing candidates on Monday, Oct. 23.
The Police Chief Review Committee has agreed to move forward with 20 candidates to fill Chief Murphy Paul’s position with the Baton Rouge People Department. The 21st candidate dropped out for consideration on Thursday.
From the first meeting, the committee decided to conduct background checks on all candidates before choosing to interview. After the background checks have been finalized, the committee will interview all 20 candidates. If there is no positive feedback, then they are no longer considered for the position.
The committee agreed that each candidate will receive 46 minutes to answer questions, with a three-minute opening and closing statement on why they believe they are best for the position. The committee will ask each candidate no more than 20 questions, one to two questions per committee member.
The committee received more than 100 questions from the public. They chose 60 questions of the 100 to be asked to the candidates.
The only candidate during the meeting who received a unanimous vote to move forward with interviews is Deputy Chief Myron Daniels.
According to Mayor-Pro Temp LaMont Cole, one of the main reasons why choosing a chief is important is to build back trust between the community and law enforcement.
“There’s a lack of trust,” said Cole. “We need a leader who can bridge that gap. Have those tough conversations, but on the other side, we need a chief of police who can lead the men and women of the Baton Rouge Police Department in a way where they are proud to serve or whether they are eager to serve.”
Ultimately, the committee will recommend five candidates to the Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome for her final consideration.
The interviews for the candidates will begin, on Monday, Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. located at City Hall.
