With feedback in, Cedar Rapids plans to post police chief job

CEDAR RAPIDS — The most important qualities a new Cedar Rapids police chief should display, based on a community survey and outreach, are in community engagement, technology advancements, diversity and inclusion, training and education, collaborative partnerships and accountability and transparency.

The city, without a permanent police chief for five months, is hoping to post the job by the end of the week, Assistant to the City Manager Amanda Grieder said during a meeting Monday of the city’s Public Safety and Youth Services Committee.

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Cedar Rapids is looking to replace Chief Wayne Jerman, who retired in April after turning 66 and aging out of his certification. Jerman, who spent 10 years with the city, was paid over $188,000 a year and oversaw operations of the department that is made up of 270 full-time equivalents, according to the city budget.

Last month, the city launched a community outreach program with the help of consultants from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The outreach included a public survey and interviews with the leaders of several community organizations to create a candidate profile of a new chief.

Consultants met with the leaders of 25 groups and received over 650 responses to the online survey. The city originally reached out to more than 30 groups, but some opted to fill out the online survey rather than schedule a meeting, Grieder said.

“I really appreciate the thoroughness of how many groups this committee involved, because there were groups that I wasn’t sure if they would have gotten an extension, but we’ve really been working intentionally on our equity, and they had a seat at the table immediately without asking,” council member Ashley Vanorny said at the meeting.

Based on those results, the consultants put together an extensive list of qualities that the community wants to see in a police chief. Grieder identified the six areas as the most important things community members want the new chief to focus on.

Grieder said that technology advancements have been mentioned by several community members, especially in regards to use of body-worn cameras. The Cedar Rapids Police Department equipped all of its officers with body cameras in 2019.

“One piece that I thought was very interesting is that survey takers and people who were engaged in the stakeholder process really called out the use of body-worn cameras to really promote that transparency when police officers are on different calls for service,” Grieder said at the meeting.

Now that the city has identified what to look for in a candidate, the next step is to post the position and start reaching out to potential applicants. Grieder said one of the benefits of working with the police chief association is that it has lots of contacts and will be able to help make connections with potential candidates.

Applications will be submitted to the association, which will provide an initial review of candidates. The candidates then will be assessed by the city’s Civil Service Commission, which will provide a list of finalists. Those finalists will be interviewed by the city manager and other community members. The City Council would have to approve of the manager’s choice.

Grieder said the goal is to have a chief approved by the end of the year, but that timeline could vary depending on how many applications are received.

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