News Flash

The city has retained Raftelis Financial Consultants Inc. to conduct a nationwide recruiting search for Winston-Salem’s next police chief. Police Chief Catrina Thompson announced in late July that she will be retiring in December.

Raftelis has conducted more than 120 executive searches for local governments throughout the United Sates, including searches for seven chiefs of police. The company will begin work immediately with a goal of helping the city bring in three finalists by December.

For the first phase of the process, the company will begin working with Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney to develop a candidate profile, which will include gathering input from the city manager, the mayor and City Council members, Thompson, the community and police personnel. 

After the candidate profile is complete, the company will place job postings with national, state and regional professional organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Executive Research Forum, the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, the Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association, the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police and other organizations that are identified in the recruitment plan.

Three finalists will be invited to Winston-Salem for interviews, tours, meetings with the mayor and members of the City Council and forums with city residents and police officers.

The city will publicize the forum for city residents at the appropriate time later this year.