Here’s part of the story behind the Olympia police chief finalist withdrawing from process
While the city of Olympia announced one of its candidates for police chief — Kenton Buckner — was pulling his name out of consideration, the department he runs back in Syracuse, New York, got a message, too.
Buckner announced on Friday that he resigned as the police chief of the Syracuse Police Department.
The news comes after Buckner was absent from a news conference on Thursday in Syracuse where the department was being asked about its response to a police encounter with an 8-year-old boy that was caught on body cam footage and quickly went viral, according to Syracuse.com.
When pressed on where Buckner was during the conference, the department’s policy officer later confirmed he was in Olympia and had just returned Thursday night. Then both cities were notified of his resignation on Friday.
In a statement included in reporting by Syracuse.com, Buckner said he made the decision to resign for personal reasons, similar to the statement to the city of Olympia.
Buckner, 52, was hired as the police chief in Syracuse at the end of 2018. He was one of three finalists in the city’s search, coming in after being chief of the Little Rock Police Department in Arkansas for more than four years. While the chief in Syracuse, he said on several occasions that chiefs should serve for no more than 3 to 5 years.
In his statement to the City of Syracuse, Buckner said over his three-year tenure, the department increased diversity, increased training and “made transparency a pillar of our organization.”
He included in his statement the news of his withdrawal from consideration for police chief in Olympia and said he’s confident it’s the best choice for him at this time. With that, it’s also the right time for him to resign from the Syracuse department, he said.
“As I have pursued the position in Olympia over the past several weeks, we have prepared for the potential that I may leave the department,” he said. “That process has progressed to the point that I believe it is in the best interest of the department that I allow the transition to move forward. I have also reached the conclusion that I am ready to move on to a next stage in my career.”
Buckner said he was grateful to Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and other officials for giving him the chance to serve the city.
Walsh shared a statement with the city on the news of Buckner’s resignation. He said on top of promoting diversity and recruiting, Buckner successfully led the department through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was proud to partner with him in embracing the police reform movement as an opportunity to accelerate further improvements in policing, public safety and community relations,” Walsh said. “Because of that, our department is strong and prepared to keep our community safe and continue the progress he made.”
The announcement means both departments are now out of a police chief, and Olympia’s more than two-year search will have to be restarted.
This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 2:13 PM.
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