Tacoma has a new police chief. Veteran Dallas cop confirmed by City Council
Tacoma City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to appoint Avery Moore as the city’s new police chief.
He will start the job in mid-January.
Moore, 55, is the assistant chief for the Investigations Bureau at the Dallas Police Department. He has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years.
“I really, really am grateful and humble,” Moore said in response to the confirmation. “I mean what I say. I think we have some challenges, certainly, but we’re going to turn them into opportunities.”
City manager Elizabeth Pauli last week recommended Moore for the position.
“He has proven his ability to connect with the public, to ably perform in prominent leadership roles and to lead through challenging situations,” Pauli said.
All Council members shared their support for Moore on Tuesday.
“I’m excited about this. We’ve been focused on transformation for several years now, and the selection of a highly qualified police chief that could help us potentially transform the city of Tacoma and how we police our community is really important. This is a monumental moment,” deputy mayor Keith Blocker said at Tuesday’s meeting.
Mayor Victoria Woodards said there were multiple things Moore said in his interviews that resonated with her, including, “Togetherness is how you fix stuff.”
“That’s how you won me over — when you talked about the fact that police come in and fight all these battles alone, and solve them alone, but as a community how we solve anything ... is to do it together,” Woodards said.
Moore was one of four finalists for the Tacoma police chief position and was selected as top pick earlier this week.
The other candidates were Kathy McAlpine, who worked in Tacoma 31 years before leaving to be chief in Tigard, Oregon; Michael Carroll, who retired from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office in San Leandro, California, after a 25-year career; and Sean Case, a captain with the Anchorage Police Department.
The city has been searching for a police chief since Don Ramsdell retired in January after being at the helm of Tacoma Police Department for 17 years. The new chief will take over from Mike Ake, who was promoted from assistant chief to interim police chief after Ramsdell left.
In an interview with The News Tribune, Moore called himself “a change agent” and said he knows how to navigate a diversified city thanks to his time in Dallas, the ninth largest police department in the country. Moore championed community policing, boosting officer morale, ensuring the department reflects the community and implementing a crisis response team to respond to calls involving mental health crises and homelessness-related issues.
Moore was also a contender this summer to be police chief for the Columbus and Austin police departments, according to news reports.
Stacia Glenn contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 6:48 PM.
