Elected or appointed? Committee makes its recommendation on selecting San Angelo’s next police chief

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Elect or appoint? The debate on selecting San Angelo’s next police chief has been the source of research and discussion for a charter committee created in June of this year.

Tuesday, the group presented its findings to City Council: Keep the position an elected one, with some changes. 

Last month, the City of San Angelo announced the committee would be exploring three options for hiring the next chief of police. The other two options including leaving the charter as is and changing the position from an elected one to an appointed one. The committee of seven, led by former COSA Municipal Court Judge Allen Gilbert, announced its findings at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

“After all the thought and the work, we are recommending to you that we keep the chief of police as an elected position at this time but make changes to the qualifications in order to see that we get the chief that we believe the City of San Angelo wants, ” Gilbert explained to the council. 

The proposal comes one month after the committee held a town hall meeting to discuss which method would be better the city. Currently, it is believed San Angelo is the only Texas city still electing its police chief. Allen, who is a supporter of the appointment process, revealed there is no state statute governing an elected police chief, and so some of the recommendations from the committee came were based on those cities who appoint their police chief.

The first recommendation from the group is the update the qualifications for a police chief candidate. Currently, the only requirements are that a candidate be 18 years old and must have lived in San Angelo for two years.

The charter committee is recommending the next police chief be required to have the experience of working as a law enforcement supervisor. It was an idea supported by the council. 

“One thing folks have been concerned about is that you can have an 18-year-old be chief of police. What you got in your list there indicates that a person at minimum would be 28 to 30 years old,” Single Member District 6 Councilman Larry Miller said. 

In addition to the qualifications, the committee also recommended aligning the election of the police chief with that of other city council offices. The group also supports adding language to the charter that would require the police chief to automatically resign should he (or she) move out of San Angelo or if they are found to have violated any state or federal law. The police chief would also have to run the department according to federal, state and city policies. 

The City Council did not object to the proposal, meaning it will be drafted to be placed on the ballot for the May 2023 election. Residents will then have an option to vote ‘yes’ in favor of adding the recommendations to the charter. A vote for no would keep the charter, as is.