The Greensboro Police Department (GPD) has a huge problem with vacancies. The number of vacancies in sworn officers is over 100 and growing.
However, there is one vacancy that takes precedence, the chief of police.
Former Greensboro Police Chief Brian James announced his retirement in April and retired from the GPD on May 31. James joined the GPD in 1996 and rose through the ranks. He was appointed deputy police chief in 2015 and sworn in as police chief on Feb. 1, 2020. James is a native of Greensboro and graduated of Page High School and North Carolina A&T State University. His knowledge of Greensboro and the GPD will be difficult to match.
And James didn’t remain retired long. He took over as chief of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Police on July 1.
When James retired, Deputy Police Chief Teresa Biffle was named interim police chief, but Biffle reportedly will not be applying to remove the interim from her title.
The City of Greensboro will be holding three Zoom meetings for the public to give input on hiring the new police chief. The Zoom meetings are each being held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and are scheduled for:
- Wednesday, August 24: Participants can join the meeting via Zoom using the meeting ID: 82820353279 or dial in by phone at 386-347-5053 and using passcode 660662.
- Thursday, August 25: Participants can join the meeting via Zoom using the meeting ID: 86046639045 or dial in by phone at 312-626-6799 and using passcode 144090.
- Wednesday, August 31: Participants can join the meeting via Zoom using the meeting ID: 83468842155 or dial in by phone at 669-444-9171 and using passcode 959723.
In the press release, Assistant City Manager Trey Davis said, “We want to give our residents the opportunity to engage and offer input on what is most important to them in our search for a new police chief. Because everyone has a busy schedule, we are offering these community meetings virtually. We’ll use the input to help shape our search.”
The city will conduct a nationwide search for a new police chief as it did when James was selected in 2020 from the 39 qualified candidates who applied.
Don’t waste your time citizens. They don’t care what you have to see. I’m sure our new city manager already knows who he is hiring.
Won’t be White for sure.
You can start the search in Portland. They manage crime well.
Smoke and Mirrors! Greensboro City Council doesn’t want input; they’ll just do as they wish. Expect a lesbian black for the next Chief.
Lol, no need to zoom in. We already know what will be hired.
They ran Chief James off because Queen Nancy wanted him to march with the BLM protest marches with her among other things. I understand why he left and couldn’t imagine working for these thieves. Glad he’s doing well.
It would be advisable to employee a Police Chief that WE ALL can respect!! If a quality person is not chosen there will be many more positions not filled.
Two years ago I provided the City with a solid suggestion which they ignored. I have no sympathy for them now that their know it all attitude has backfired. What they need is an outside firm to appoint someone who has the knowledge and experience to deal with the unique issues Greensboro faces. Leave the local politics out of the decision and let the experts do their job. Such a shame we have such unnecessary problems.
I worked at a different PD for three years under a COP who was no nonsense and ran his decisions past a single, trusted individual under him. Sound decisions is what made it a success.
Agree. But in Greensboro everything is mixed with politics, demographics, and the same tired dance that has not worked for the past 50 years.
Spoiler alert. Here’s the future press release.
“After a national search for the most qualified candidate, we have discovered that (insert current GPD or CMPD employee here) was right under our noses all along. Please welcome (Insert current GPD or CMPD employee) as our new chief of police.”
Stop pretending you are doing all of this vetting. Everyone knows that Tai and Council will pick their favorite friends anyway. Pick who you want, just don’t lie to me and say you are actually picking the best candidate. Such a waste of time and money.
Maybe they will hire another reject from Charlotte like the City Manager & City Attorney.