Montgomery offers police chief job to 'external candidate'; mayor mum on who it is

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify that Ernest Finley was one of the first non-Montgomerians to serve as police chief, but not the first.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed confirmed Tuesday that the city has extended an offer to an external candidate to become the next police chief but said that he's unable to name the candidate until "all of the contractual issues are addressed."

Reed confirmed the offer after meeting in executive session with City Council members. "We wanted to have an announcement today," he said. "Unfortunately, we’re not able to do that formally at this time just due to some legal issues that are still being worked out."

Still, Reed said he expects the final announcement to be made within the next few weeks, and that the city's choice is someone who can relate to current officers while implementing new tactics to stem a surge in violent crime. "We have to have an acute plan for that, and this person does," he said. "They presented that not only to myself and to my staff, but also a public panel of law enforcement as well as other community leaders here in the city."

The confirmation of an external candidate means that the city has not offered the job to current Interim Chief Ramona Harris. But Reed praised Harris for the job she's done since former MPD Chief Ernest Finley left eight months ago.

"The interim role is a challenging one because you can’t do everything you want to do," Reed said. "… But I think with the challenges that she was given, or really inherited, she’s done a very good job."

The city’s long-time position was that Finley resigned from the department, but in a council meeting earlier this month, Reed’s chief of staff, Chip Hill, said the chief was dismissed.

“We dismissed a public safety director, we dismissed a police chief,” he said in talking about crime in the city. “We’re about to hire another police chief. And as I’ve told each and every one of you, if they don’t get the job done this mayor will dismiss them too."

Finley was sworn in as the city’s 14th police chief in January 2015. Hired from a deputy chief position at the Atlanta Police Department, Finley was one of the first non-Montgomery natives to take the position.

Finley’s administration had its highs and lows. He created a liaison program between the police department and the LGBTQ community in Montgomery. When there was a clash over a police raid in the middle of Pride week, Finley openly addressed concerns of the community the next day at another Pride event.

He also walked Dexter Avenue as protestors marched after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Reed long touted the department’s handling of the downtown demonstrations and said Finley’s leadership helped keep events peaceful in Montgomery.

Among the positives, there were negatives. Finley led the department through their own case of police brutality, when Officer A.C. Smith, a white officer, shot and killed Greg Gunn in 2016.

Violent crime in Montgomery has been a sticking point for many critical of the police department and Finley. Homicides skyrocketed in 2020, and the 2021 case numbers set another record.

Finley also suffered a blow when internal strife amongst the ranks spilled over into a public forum at a council meeting. Multiple officers claimed a culture of unequal policies and retaliation existed at the department.

A week after Finley left the department, Reed said the city’s crime trends and allegations of improper conduct within the ranks played a part in the set of circumstances that led to his departure.

The same day the news broke about Finley, city officials named District Chief Zedrick Dean the acting chief. More than two weeks later Maj. Ramona Harris was named interim chief.

Harris is an 18-year veteran of the Montgomery Police Department. She began her law enforcement career with the Alabama Department of Corrections, where she served as a correctional officer at Draper Correctional Facility in Elmore County.

In 2003, Harris completed the Montgomery Police Academy and was assigned to patrol for the next five years. She was promoted to corporal and returned to the academy as an instructor in 2008. Four years later she was promoted to sergeant, then to lieutenant in December 2012, captain in 2015 and finally major in 2018 before her current appointment.

Reed said his priority in the nationwide search for the next full-time chief was to find a leader who would "make the bad guys feel uncomfortable at every level, every day" while working with partners to expand resources and reach. "That’s the type of leader that I think we have," he said Tuesday.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Montgomery offers police chief job to 'external candidate'