Communities in the rural areas of the Copper Corridor such as Globe and Miami often have difficulty recruiting high-caliber professionals to lead municipal agencies, so local, parallel searches for new police chiefs take on intensified meaning, particularly in Globe, where turnover at the head of the organization has led to questions about the integrity of the force.

There have been four police chiefs in Globe in the past four years.

But Globe City Manager Paul Jepson believes the current search for a police chief will lead to steady, long-term leadership.

“It’s going well and there have been a lot of great responses,” he said. “People have the expectation of privacy, so I can’t tell you how many applicants we have. Suffice it to say we have a considerable candidate pool.”

The City of Globe instituted its search for a new chief in March and hopes to begin the interview process in early June, although the posting for the position will remain open until it is filled. The first review of existing applicants took place on May 26.

While the city hopes to find local talent for the job, the search has gone international, appearing on state police websites such as the Arizona Association of Police Chiefs, the Arizona League of Cities and Towns as well as the International Association of Police Chiefs and the International City/County Managers Association and even Indeed.com.

Globe’s police chief oversees a department of four divisions and 22 employees with a $2.9 million budget and works directly under the city manager who works with elected officials to create policy and direct operations.

Stated goals for the new chief include building a “model law enforcement agency viewed internally and externally as professional, enthusiastic, trustworthy and at the forefront of the police profession.”

Rounding out the 10 goals enumerated in the job description are the following:

• Promote a strong, transparent and inclusive leadership style that fosters a culture of respect and consistent accountability;

• Display leadership through relationships, involvement and open communication with police rank and file, council and community;

• Understand the needs and the fabric of the City and adopt policing practices and strategies that will uphold the rules of law while building trust and resident “buy in”;

• Uphold the highest ethics and personal characteristics to include self-awareness and compassion while leading by example;

• Mentor and empower both sworn and administrative members of the department to build a valued and loyal team of professionals;

• Create partnerships with local high schools and the community college for early development of local candidates for potential officers;

• Provide innovative leadership while operating the department with a modest budget and provide a safe environment for the citizens of Globe;

• Seek out long-term solutions for challenges in staffing, equipment and site infrastructure, through grants and regional partnerships; and,

• Recapture the sense of pride of a 100-year-old police department.

The department has been mired in internal and external investigations recently, but public information is scarce, as personnel matters and privacy issues keep much of the legal wrangling, even in potentially vital police matters, out of the public sphere.

Jepson sees the hire as critical to the future of the community and expects the next police chief to stanch the bleeding, which in turn would help the reputation of Globe and its economic future.

But recruitment for local police departments can be difficult, given the dearth of goods and services in the Globe-Miami area. Finding a quality candidate willing to live in a remote area that does not pay as well as departments in the Valley and Tucson is difficult, so many public service personnel live in more populated places and commute.

Jepson is not opposed to hiring a candidate from the Valley, if that candidate proves to be qualified, but in Miami the search for a police chief is a local exercise.

Miami held its first round of interviews to replace popular Chief Spencer Preston, who has been chief for three years after joining the MPD in 2009.

Often, when officers have left the Globe department, they have moved on to the Miami department.

Miami Town Manager Joe Heatherly wants to maintain that small-town police department feel by having the next chief live in town as part of the next contract.

“In order to work here, you have to live here,” Heatherly said. “We want people who have skin in the game and who will get involved in the community.

If the interviews go well, the town could make an offer to a potential new chief as soon as this week.

The search for a police chief even touched on the town of Superior, which nearly began a search of its own. According to Town of Superior Manager Todd Pryor, the town council recently promoted Sergeant Christian Ensley as Interim Chief on a trial basis.