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NEW BEDFORD — Mayor Jon Mitchell has convened a screening committee to interview and recommend candidates for the city’s next police chief.
The 10-person committee includes city councilors, retired legal officials and police officers, and two consultants whom the mayor has contracted to review issues within the New Bedford Police Department.
The city will post the position for chief next week. It’s open to both internal and external applicants. The committee will select candidates for interviews, and then recommend candidates to the mayor for final interviews.
The search comes as the department and current Chief Paul Oliveira are under intense scrutiny following an investigation by the Boston Globe, called “Snitch City.” The multipart series alleges misconduct by the narcotics division over decades, including by Oliveira.
The city did not undertake a screening process when Mitchell promoted Oliveira to chief in 2021 after former chief Joseph Cordeiro retired. At the time, Oliveira was serving as deputy chief and then acting chief.
City public information officer Jonathan Darling said it is common practice to promote department leaders without a search committee if they are second-in-command and qualified.
The 10 screening committee members:
- Christopher Bator, retired Assistant United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts
- Brian Gomes, at-large city councilor and chair, Public Safety Committee
- Margarita Graham, president, Reliable Bus Company
- Renee Ledbetter, president, New Bedford chapter, NAACP
- Shawn Oliver, city councilor, Ward 3
- Kathleen O’Toole, former secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety; Boston police commissioner; Seattle police chief; and chief inspector of the Garda Siochana Inspectorate of Ireland
- Philip Rapoza, retired chief justice, Massachusetts Court of Appeals
- David Reis, retired Massachusetts state trooper and former New Bedford police officer
- Celeine Saraiva, president, Clark’s Point Neighborhood Association
- Robert Wasserman, an advisor in the Boston, Dayton, New York and Houston police departments, and a former Jensen Hughes consultant who helped produce the 2023 report on NBPD
City Councilor Brian Gomes, who chairs the public safety committee, sat on the last screening committee, which was convened in early 2016. It included active and retired New Bedford police officers, a retired FBI agent, and leaders from city nonprofits. The committee vetted candidates to succeed Chief David Provencher, who died in late 2015. Cordeiro got the job.
Now, Gomes will sit alongside fellow council member Shawn Oliver, who works as a correctional officer.
Oliver defended Oliveira and the city’s police department in a recent interview with the Globe about its investigation into police misconduct, saying “more involvement and more eyes peering in is going to be detrimental” to police work, the Globe reported.
Oliver and Gomes did not respond to a request for comment from The Light last month about the series.
Also serving on the committee are Robert Wasserman and Kathleen O’Toole — both consultants hired by the city to look into NBPD practices.
Wasserman, who helped author the 2023 Jensen Hughes report, has stayed on with NBPD to help implement changes. O’Toole works for 21CP, which will review the department’s internal affairs and narcotics units with another internal affairs consultant, the mayor announced this week.
21CP expects to complete its work in 90 days, according to Darling.
Darling did not respond to questions Thursday afternoon on how long the screening and hiring process is expected to take, who will serve as acting chief in the interim, and if public input will be part of the process.
In an email, Darling said the mayor contacted “accomplished professionals who would bring a diverse set of perspectives” to interview the candidates.
“I am confident that they will help us determine the right person to lead the NBPD in the years to come,” Mitchell wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.
“New Bedford deserves a police chief who can establish an organizational culture that will enable our officers to sustain the recent improvements in public safety and command the trust of our City’s residents,” he said in an official statement. “This is an exciting opportunity for an aspiring law enforcement leader to make a major difference in a city that is on the rise.”
The appointment does not require City Council approval, but the council can vote to endorse the candidate the mayor selects.
The department hasn’t had a deputy chief since Adelino Sousa retired. The next highest ranking officers are Assistant Deputy Chiefs Scott Carola and Derek Belong.
Oliveira announced his retirement in February. It takes effect May 3. His current contract as chief, signed last summer, was set to expire in 2027. He was earning at least $209,000 as of last year.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
New Bedford Light is a biased outlet that has a far left agenda. And when you try to post an accurate summary of events, if it doesn’t meet its agenda they won’t let you post it. SHAMEFUL.
The New Bedford Light is a news outlet that accurately reflects the political sentiments of it’s citizens.
Would you want it any other way?
Who should have the power to decide what comments New Bedford Light posts?
If you wat you political screeds published start your own news outlet/ website.
You will not be shamed by it.
Just New Bedford.
“Far left,” Mr. Janson? Hardly. Anyway, I am glad that there is a hiring committee formed to interview potential police chiefs; but I do wonder about its makeup. Why are there two city councilors especially when one has already served on a previous hiring committee for police chief? Why is there an owner of a bus company? I would like to have seen three New Bedford residents and voters who are not in a political position and not owners of a private company selected.