Whether the new chief will come from inside oroutside of the department is undecided. Rooneysaid each has its advantages and disadvantages; anin-house candidate may understand theadministration and community better, while anoutside candidate can offer an unprejudicedperspective and a "new approach."
Epps, a member of the advisory group, said onMonday that he would be willing to appoint someone"quite unorthodox...in the sense of policebureaucracy."
"I stress above all [finding] someone who isvery accessible to students and who likes workingwith them and can think of new ways to involvethem in the department," Epps said.
Brown said he would like to see a new chief whois a "real change from the status quo."
"I'd like to see somebody from the outside comein, to reform the department a bit," he said.
On the other hand, Rooney stressed thatexperience in the department would beadvantageous.
"I think personally you really need a realprofessional law enforcement officer," Rooneysaid. "You need a strong professional whounderstands operations, who interacts on a regularbasis with the community [the department] serves."
A Problem Solver
Whoever is chosen, tensions between policeofficers and Black students still need to beresolved, students said.
"That's definitely a part of the job of apolice chief [to look at both perspectives],"Brown said, "Not only to function very well insidethe police department, but also to convincestudents who have less faith in the department...especially when race relations are still a bigpart of the interactions between students andpolice."
But Griffin said that both students and policeofficers will have to communicate in order toimprove relations.
"Both sides need to come together andunderstand what they're doing. Students clearlyneed to say what type of services they want," hesaid.
McGaw said he has seen from personal experiencethat officers are willing to reach out tostudents. He said that he felt the student-policesoftball game he organized was an encouraging stepthat showed some of the goodwill among officers.
"I hope students will see that the departmentis making the outreach," he said. "It's not theanswer; it's just the beginning."
McGaw said he hoped the new chief would besomeone with the ability to foster that goodwill.
"The officers on the department are a finegroup," McGaw said. "The police deserve to have acop's cop leading them. The students and the copsdeserve the best...We should seek no substitute."