Fort Worth suburb hires firm to find new police chief; other senior officers leaving
Bedford has hired a recruiting firm to find the city’s next police chief.
The city contracted with Keller-based Strategic Government Resources, said city manager Jimmy Stathatos.
Stathatos said there is a lot of interest in the position.
“People have already reached out to me,” he said.
“A police chief position in a great city in the middle of DFW, I think it will be in great demand,” he said.
Bedford is seeking a new police chief after Jeff Gibson announced his retirement last month after 23 years with the department. Gibson was questioned during a council work session earlier this fall about inaccurate training data and about why he did not list issues with supervision and leadership as top reasons why officers were leaving the department.
Two senior officers are also retiring. Assistant Police Chief Brian Meaders and Capt. Mike Hager are retiring Jan. 31, Stathatos said.
On Monday, Gary Johnson will start work as interim police chief.
Stathatos, who hired Johnson as police chief when he was city manager in Roanoke, said he expects Johnson to work in Bedford for about four months.
“He (Johnson) just retired a couple of months ago. He is incredible, he is salt of the earth,” Stathatos said.
Johnson will do a complete inventory of the department’s evidence room and look at the training records, Stathatos said.
The department is using new software to manage training records. There are discrepancies between Bedford’s records and records from the state, he said.
“I definitely don’t want Bedford to be where we do the basic minimum amount of training,” he said.
This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
CORRECTION: Capt. Mike Hager of the Bedford Police Department is retiring Jan. 31. His title was incorrect in a previous version of this story.