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Group opposes internal police chief hopefuls

By   /   August 1, 2012  /   6 Comments

Mayor Jim Suttle

OMAHA—Only days before Mayor Jim Suttle is expected to name a new police chief one of the administration’s constant critics is all but telling him that of the four finalists the two inside candidates are unfit for the top job.

The Omaha Alliance doesn’t name names but reading between the lines leaves little doubt about the group’s recommendation.

According to the Alliance the next chief must come with two notches on their resume: “experience as a chief” and from a department that “embraces community policing.”

Since the two candidates from inside the Omaha Police Department—Acting Deputy Chief Gregory Gonzalez and Deputy Chief Todd Schmaderer—have not worn the chief’s hat and because the Alliance has long complained that the Omaha Police Department does not practice community policing the Alliance is clearly telling Suttle that the insiders are not qualified.

At the same time the two outsiders—Christopher Domagalski and Blair Ulring— seem to fit the Alliance’s bill.

Domagalski is currently the Chief of Police in Sheboygan, Wisconsin while Ulring was police chief in Stockton, California until he retired earlier this year.

Domagalski runs a department with 81 officers and 31 civilians.

Ulring headed up 441 officers and 229 civilians in Stockton, a financially plagued city which filed for bankruptcy last month.

Since the Alliance and Suttle rarely agree the Alliance’s anti-insider stance may all but guarantee that Gonzalez or Schmaderer gets the job.

Reported by Joe Jordan, joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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Joe Jordan

  • Kevin

    Anyone that thinks that Suttle will hire an outside candidate is as loony as Suttle. I would prefer an outsider, but Suttle is all about greasing wheels.

  • resistwemuch

    affirmative action wins again.

  • Jazzee

    It’s obvious what suttle is doing and who he will select. wait and see

  • Joe Sixpack

    Has Mayor Suttle requested and read all of the internal complaints filed against the potential Chiefs of Police? The people of Omaha should be allowed to read all of these complaints. We need to know what type of person may be our next chief. These complaints will shed a lot of light on the character of those people.

  • Patrick

    The Omaha Alliance of Dildos

  • Dave

    I do believe we desperatly need a public police auditor more than we do a chief of police.
    I do think that positions of police chief and possibly assistant chiefs of police should always come from outside the department. I think it would diminish the possible “stink” of knowing the bad cops, and possibly protecting them. (The thin blue line).