The City of Grand Rapids is looking for its next Chief of Police as David Rahinsky’s last official day at the helm comes in less than a week. Rahinsky, who stepped down to be closer to family in Florida, served four years as Chief of Police before announcing his retirement in December.
While the city continues its efforts to repair police and community relations that have been strained over the past two years, Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss says it’s imperative for the city to find the right person for the job.
“The decision about who serves as our next Chief I believe is one of the most critical decisions that will be made this year,” Bliss said. “And I know that our city manager Mark Washington, recognizes that as well, and is putting a lot of time and effort and energy into what will surely be an intensive national search to find the right person.”
To do that, City Manager Mark Washington hired Public Sector Search and Consulting, who previously has assisted bigger cities including Seattle, Dallas, San Francisco and Kansas City in their police chief searches.
“And what most impressed me most about their work is that in each of their searches they had diverse candidate pools that understood community policing and also worked very closely with 21st Century."
21st Century is the police task force that did a yearlong review of the department’s policy and procedures and drafted 38 recommendations on how Grand Rapids police can improve.
