{"id":2453793,"date":"2020-01-27T13:36:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/carbondale-seeks-chief-police-officer\/"},"modified":"2020-01-27T13:36:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T20:36:00","slug":"carbondale-seeks-chief-police-officer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/carbondale-seeks-chief-police-officer\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbondale seeks chief police officer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The top two cops in Carbondale will be leaving this year, and the town is preparing to choose a new chief.<\/p>\n

Since the Carbondale police chief job was posted Dec. 31, applications have been flowing in and Carbondale Town Manager Jay Harrington expects to have 30 to 40 qualified applicants by mid-February.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the early interest in the position, we\u2019re really optimistic about finding someone who works well with the community,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n

The applications are coming from both within the valley and from across the country, Harrington said.<\/p>\n

Whoever gets the position will have several months to shadow current Chief Gene Schilling before he retires in September. And ideally, the candidate would start the job by late May to overlap with second-in-command Chris Wurtsmith, who will retire mid-summer.<\/p>\n

The transition period will be helpful both for the new chief to learn the job during the busy summer season, and because he or she will have a chance to select a lieutenant from among the staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s kind of unique about this position is that whoever\u2019s hired, he or she has the opportunity to pick their No. 2,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n

After Feb. 10, town staff will begin screening applicants to narrow down the field to four or five candidates.<\/p>\n

Candidates are expected to visit Carbondale in March for a series of panels \u2014 including a Spanish-speaking panel and another with law enforcement agencies \u2014 and a reception where people from the community can meet each of the prospective chiefs.<\/p>\n

The goal is to find someone who can work well with the small \u2014 and at times eclectic \u2014 community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any small town, you\u2019re really at the scale of community-oriented policing, and the police chief is the face of that,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n

Alex Sanchez, executive director of Valley Settlement, advised the town on ways to encourage engagement from the Latino community during the selection process.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll stakeholders should be reflected in the process,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

Sanchez also said he appreciated the willingness of Harrington and the town Board of Trustees to seek input from the Latino community in the hiring process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all want the same thing: A qualified, experienced leader who understands our community, who continues to lead and push initiatives and reforms within the police department that ensure we protect and serve everyone in the community,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

Sanchez hopes the next chief has experience with community policing in a town similar to Carbondale, which is nearly half Latino.<\/p>\n

Sanchez said Valley Settlement, which serves immigrant families throughout the Roaring Fork Valley, has a good relationship with the Carbondale police and hopes that will continue with the new chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a strong partnership with the Carbondale Police Department. I give credit to (Schilling), he has always had an open door for Valley Settlement,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The top two cops in Carbondale will be leaving this year, and the town is preparing to choose a new chief. Since the Carbondale police chief job was posted Dec. 31, applications have been flowing in and Carbondale Town Manager Jay Harrington expects to have 30 to 40 qualified applicants by mid-February. \u201cBased on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2453793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 18:46:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}