Here are the 4 finalists competing to be Tacoma’s next police chief
The City of Tacoma on Tuesday announced four finalists in the running for its new chief of police.
Current interim police chief Michael Ake was chosen to temporarily lead the Tacoma Police Department last December prior to the retirement of former chief Don Ramsdell in January 2021.
Tacoma city manager Elizabeth Pauli said last December that the city would appoint an interim chief rather than a permanent chief as previously planned and embark on a more robust search for chief.
The application period closed Oct. 15, and 15 applications were reviewed by Bob Murray and Associates, a recruitment firm hired by the city.
People can meet the finalists during a series of meetings during the week of Nov. 15. Here they are:
Michael D. Carroll
Michael D. Carroll retired in April 2021 from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in San Leandro, California, after a 25-year career. He was responsible for the Emergency Services Communication Center and served in other roles, including captain responsible for the Glenn E. Dyer Detention Facility, lieutenant of the Youth and Family Services Bureau for Eden Township and sergeant of the Street Crimes Unit for the Eden Township.
He ran to be sheriff of Alameda County earlier this year and campaigned to bring a “community-focused approach to law enforcement,” according to his campaign’s Twitter account.
Carroll holds a master of arts degree in Leadership and Organizational Change from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California and a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science from the University of California Berkeley.
Sean Case
Sean Case currently works for the Anchorage Police Department as captain responsible for internal affairs, patrol, administrative division and inspection division. He is also a consultant on police practices for Daigle Law Group. Case formerly worked as a police officer for the City of Los Angeles and then the City of Anchorage. He has held positions as a SWAT team operator, police sergeant and patrol supervisor, use of force supervisor, internal affairs investigator, and police lieutenant and internal affairs commander.
Case holds a master of arts degree in Psychology of Leadership from the Pennsylvania State University, a master of arts degree in Criminology from Indiana State University and a bachelor of arts degree in Justice from the University of Alaska.
Kathy A. McAlpine
McAlpine, chief at the Tigard Police Department, is looking to come home. She has run the Tigard department in a suburb south of Portland since 2017 after a 31-year career with the Tacoma Police Department. During that time, she held every position except for chief. McAlpine started with TPD in 1986 and was an assistant chief when she left. While working in Tacoma, McAlpine oversaw the department’s first gang unit and helped the department achieve its first accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation in Law Enforcement in 2010.
She holds a master of science degree in criminal justice from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, and a bachelor of science degree in workforce education and development from Southern Illinois University.
Avery L. Moore
Moore is an assistant chief at the Dallas Police Department who heads up the Investigations Bureau. In that role, he oversees about 865 personnel and an estimated $127 million budget. Moore is a 30-year veteran of that department and previously worked as deputy chief, leading 640 personnel “in one of Dallas’ most culturally diverse area,” according to a Dallas police biography.
He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix at Dallas and a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice from Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma.
This summer, Moore was on the short list of candidates applying to be police chief for the Columbus and Austin police departments, according to news reports.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 12:26 PM.
