8 applicants accepted, 2 rejected for APD Chief position

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The Alexandria Fire and Police Civil Service Board reviewed the 10 applications for the Alexandria Police Chief position. The board accepted eight of them and rejected two.

The new chief will replace former APD Chief Jerrod King, who left the department back in Nov. of 2020. The City of Alexandria appointed Capt. Ronney Howard to Interim Police Chief at the end of last year.

In December, the board voted to extend the application deadline after only four applicants were submitted and all came from within APD. The City of Alexandria requested the extension to try to receive a broader range of applicants to choose from.

Brian Cespiva, the General Counsel for the Alexandria Fire and Police Civil Service Board, said, “The City’s request was quite reasonable. This is so important to select the right chief of police and the more applicants, the better.”

Out of the eight applicants accepted, four of them currently work for APD, including Cedric Green, Andrew Windham, Sammie Dauzat, and current Interim Police Chief Ronney Howard.

Patrick VanDyke and John Griffith’s applications were also accepted and they are both retired from APD.

The other two applications accepted were Varden Guillory from the Eunice Police Department and Marcus Mitchell from the Shreveport Police Department.

The two rejected applicants are Randall Wilmore from the Ball Police Department who didn’t fit the requirement of serving four years in a supervisor position and former APD Assistant Chief Reginald Cooper.

Back on July 21, KALB was told by the City of Alexandria that Cooper was “no longer with the department for a personnel matter.” That’s still an ongoing legal matter.

The next step for the applicants that were approved will be for them to take an exam given by the state examiner on March 4. Following the exam, the results will be sent to Mayor Jeff Hall’s administration for review, interviews and then a selection will be made.

Cespiva says since this process only includes eight applicants, it could be done quickly and the next APD Chief could be determined by the end of March.

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