Two Santa Fe Police Chief Finalists Announced
Community Survey Results & Dialogue Session Feedback Are Now Available
Santa Fe, February 28, 2022 – Today, City Manager John Blair announces that Paul Joye and Andrew Rodriguez are the two finalists from the nationwide search for the next Santa Fe Police Department Chief. The finalists were selected based on how well they exemplified qualities identified in the community survey, the strength of their experience, and their engagement with both the public safety and community dialogue panels.
Paul Joye is currently the Deputy Chief of Police Operations for the Santa Fe Police Department and is serving as the City’s Interim Police Chief. Andrew Rodriguez is currently the Deputy Chief of Police for the Rio Rancho Police Department.
“Interim Chief Joye and Deputy Chief Rodriguez have both shown themselves to be highly qualified law enforcement professionals who I believe could successfully serve as Santa Fe’s next Police Chief,” said City Manager Blair.
Last week, all of the qualified police chief candidates participated in two dialogue sessions with a number of Santa Fe leaders representing local law enforcement, the business community, public health and safety, non-profit and advocacy organizations, and the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board and Veteran’s Advisory Board. Additionally, 366 Santa Feans completed the community survey. A summary of the dialogue panel's feedback and the survey responses can be found on the City’s Police Chief Search webpage: www.santafenm.gov/sfpdchiefsearch2022.
“This search process is working just as we hoped it would. The quality of engagement and input from our public safety and community dialogue sessions is a testament to the importance of the Police Chief’s role in our city and the quality of civic engagement in Santa Fe. The input we’ve received both in the surveys and in these sessions has been invaluable,” said Director of Community Health and Safety Kyra Ochoa.
“It’s a real testament to Santa Fe’s community spirit that such a diverse cross-section of leaders dedicated so much time last week to help determine our next police chief,” said City Manager Blair. “We’ve worked really hard to be inclusive in our search process and we’re grateful that so many have stepped up to participate in our dialogue sessions with the candidate and to complete the community survey.”
An additional dialogue session is scheduled for this week that will include another panel of diverse Santa Fe voices, and all of the dialogue session panelists who participated last week will be invited to join as well. Feedback from the additional dialogue session panelists will also be made available to the public.
Next week, the two finalists will meet with Mayor Alan Webber, City Councilors, City Manager Blair, Director Ochoa, and City Attorney Erin McSherry. The City will also host a public question and answer forum next week with the two finalists using questions submitted by Santa Feans in the community survey and from the dialogue session feedback. More details for the public question and answer forum will be shared later in week once they are finalized.
City Manager Blair is expected to name the next Police Chief by the end of March 2022.
Media Contact: City Clerk/Director of Community Engagement Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic; kmmihelcic@santafenm.gov