Little Rock has drafted new guidelines for the promotion of police captains to assistant chiefs that gives Chief Kenton Buckner major influence on the process and places less emphasis on evaluations by a third-party panel.
The suggested policy, released Thursday by the city's Human Resources Department, bases half of a candidate's evaluation for the position on a structured interview with Buckner. A structured interview includes pre-established questions on a candidate's law enforcement experience, judgment, interpersonal skills and stress-coping ability. The interview may also include hypothetical questions known as situational judgment tests.
The current policy involves a panel of current or retired law enforcement officials in the structured interview, as well as in a separate review of a candidate's professional history. The policy states that panel members must be from outside Arkansas, rank assistant chief or higher, and "reasonable efforts will be made to ensure gender and race diversity of personnel on the Interview Panels."
Those stipulations are meant to ensure objectivity in the promotion process, Little Rock Employment Services Manager Kathleen Walker said.
In the proposed policy, there is no language on gender or racial diversity, and 50 points of a candidate's 100-point evaluation would be determined by Buckner. A panel would still be involved in the experience review.
The chief selects a new assistant chief from the three highest-scoring candidates.
Changes to the policy were drafted at Buckner's request, Walker said. The policy is subject to revision before it's submitted to the Civil Services Commission for a public hearing Dec. 11. The commission will vote on whether to approve the policy.
Buckner did not answer questions on why he's seeking more involvement in the promotion process.
"We are in the process [of] rewriting the language," he said of the policy Friday. "We will be more than happy to discuss at the proper time. At this time, nothing has been finalized."
Additional questions on what was being rewritten in the draft and when Buckner would discuss the policy further went unanswered.
The Little Rock Police Department has three assistant chiefs: Wayne Bewley of the Field Services Bureau, Hayward Finks of the Investigative and Support Bureau, and Eric Higgins of the Executive Bureau. Each has been with the department more than 25 years.
Higgins, an assistant chief since 2004, lost a bid to become Little Rock's 37th police chief to Buckner earlier this year.
Bewley and Finks were promoted from captains to assistant chiefs in 2012, selected by former chief Stuart Thomas over Capt. Alice Fulk and other candidates. Last year, Fulk filed suit against the department and the city, alleging that she had been skipped over for the promotion partly because she's a woman.
Fulk, a sworn officer since 1992, had the second-highest score of applicants for the position. Thomas chose the top scorer, Bewley, and third-highest scorer, Finks, to become assistant chiefs.
The city has denied Fulk's allegations of a "glass ceiling" at the Police Department. The suit is ongoing.
Another female candidate for assistant chief, Capt. Patrice Smith, filed her own lawsuit after not receiving the promotion that year. Smith, who is black, also filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission stating that she was denied the promotion because of her race and sex.
When asked if the policy was drafted in anticipation of an assistant chief's retirement or departure, police spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen said Higgins, Hayward and Finks had given the department no such notice.
The Little Rock Fraternal Order of Police discussed changes to the policy with the city and Police Department, but had not seen the draft Monday.
The group's president, officer Jarred McCauley, declined to comment until the organization's board members could review the proposed guidelines.
The Black Police Officers Association also discussed the suggested policy with city officials, Walker said. Board members and the group's attorney did not respond to requests for comment. In the past, the group has objected to captains being evaluated for promotion by other city officials.
City Attorney Tom Carpenter said Monday that he hadn't seen the proposed policy, either. He declined to comment.
Metro on 11/25/2014