Twin Falls Restarts Search for Police Chief After Two Drop Out

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)- The search for a Twin Falls police chief has been restarted after two candidates pull their name from the pot.

The city issued the following statement on their website today:

The City of Twin Falls will renew its search for candidates for the next Chief of Police, after two of the leading candidates elected to remove themselves from the consideration and it was determined that the remaining candidates did not possess the collection of skills, strengths, and experiences needed to lead the Twin Falls Police Department as the next Police Chief.

The candidate pool consisted of two candidates from other cities in Idaho, one candidate who retired from policing in California, and one internal candidate. Unfortunately, two candidates, Matt Hicks and John Brooks, elected to remove themselves from the selection process. Although the remaining applicants were very talented, the City felt that they did not possess all of the skills and strengths needed to lead the Twin Falls Police Department today.

The City launched its search for candidates in February after publicly posting the position and receiving a significant number of interested applicants. In early March, a team of City and Police staff members interviewed all qualified applicants over the phone, and narrowed the search down to four candidates for Police Chief.

The City called on partners from the community and neighboring law-enforcement agencies, as well as a large number of members of the Twin Falls Police Department and City of Twin Falls staff, to meet with and interview each of the four candidates. The interviews were conducted in three different formats that included: one-on-one, group, and panel-style interviews. Each of the candidates also interviewed individually with the City Manager.

“This process was new and certainly more robust in the sense that we brought many members of our community and regional law-enforcement agencies in to help us with the selection process,” said Travis Rothweiler, City Manager. “This is a very critical position in our community, so we felt it was best to bring in as many folks as would be feasible to help us identify the best candidate.”

The City made a commitment at the very beginning of the selection process to hire the best possible person for the position of Chief of Police, and will continue to search until it has identified the individual who possesses all the skills and strengths to lead the Twin Falls Police Department.

Bryan Krear, a veteran of the Twin Falls Police Department, will continue to serve as the Interim Chief of Police until the City can hire a permanent Police Chief.