What happened?
Thursday’s announcement comes nearly four months after Paco Balderrama abruptly resigned amid scandal.
The City of Fresno hired an independent firm to conduct a nationwide search for candidates to take over the city’s police department.
In a joint statement Thursday, Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Manager Georgeanne White said the firm, Public Sector Search and Consulting, “specializes exclusively in the recruitment of police executives.”
City leaders on Thursday also announced four online public meetings in the coming weeks to allow residents input on what they’d like to see in the search for a new police chief.
The online meetings are scheduled for:
- Friday, Oct. 18, 11:30 a.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 19, at 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Oct. 22, at 5:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.
The process for joining the online meetings on the search for a new police chief wasn’t immediately clear. City officials told Fresnoland those details would be released next week.
“Next week, a link to the community survey will be launched in four different languages. The links will remain active throughout the search,” officials said Thursday in a brief statement. “In addition, sworn and non-sworn employees at the police department will have the opportunity to complete a separate survey.”
Thursday’s announcement comes nearly four months after Paco Balderrama abruptly resigned amid scandal. Veteran Fresno police executive Mindy Casto has been leading the department as interim chief since Balderrama’s resignation.
Balderrama’s affair with the wife of subordinate police officer Jordan Wamhoff triggered an internal investigation that ultimately concluded that while Balderrama’s affair was inappropriate and detrimental to department morale, the now-former police chief did not abuse his power.
“As we recognize the indiscretion that he had — involving himself with a police officer’s wife — that is not excusable,” Dyer said at the June 25 news conference announcing Balderrama’s departure. “But we also don’t want to forget some of the good things that he did as well.”
