Undiscovered use of force complaint upends Olympia’s search for a new police chief
The search for a new Olympia police chief has been paused after the city learned of a past use-of-force incident involving one finalist.
City Manager Jay Burney decided to pause the search Friday, just hours after the city announced four finalists for the job. Finalist Derrick Turner, who now works for the Port of Portland Police Department, willingly withdrew from consideration after the incident came to light, Burney told The Olympian.
Olympian reporters did an internet search Friday and found a news story from Michigan that detailed an incident involving Turner. In that case, Turner was reprimanded for inappropriately grabbing a man by the throat during a 2017 arrest in Kalamazoo.
“I am incredibly upset by this turn of events,” Burney said in a news release issued Friday morning. “We are taking a pause because our community needs to trust our process, and we owe it to the remaining finalists, who are strong candidates and deserve the opportunity to compete without a shadow cast over the process.”
Burney apologized for this development. “I apologize for the impact of this on the remaining candidates and thank them for their graciousness and patience,” he said.
The city did not know about the incident prior to announcing the four finalists because it did not come up during the vetting process. Burney learned of the incident when a local journalist with the Olympia Tribune website inquired, according to the release.
“If I had known beforehand, I would not have advanced that candidate,” Burney told The Olympian.
To find a new police chief, Burney said the city contracted with Karras Consulting to conduct the entire recruitment process, including vetting the candidates and conducting background checks. He said the contract with the firm cost the city about $40,000.
“There are no excuses from us,” said Dennis Karras, of Karras Consulting, in the city’s news release. “This was clearly an oversight on our part.”
For now, Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick, who is one of the finalists, will continue to lead the Olympia Police Department. Jelcick took over the department when Chief Ronnie Roberts retired.
The other remaining candidates included Olympia’s acting Community Police Lt. Amy King and Sean Case, who is the captain of administration of the Anchorage Police Department.
Burney said he is still considering next steps following this development. He said he hopes to have more information about where the city will go from here next week.
Olympian reporter Brandon Block contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 11:48 AM.
