By Steven Tavares.
Anne Kirkpatrick, a former Spokane, Wash. police chief and current head of a Chicago police accountability task force, is set to be named Oakland’s next police chief, according to numerous media reports.
Kirkpatrick, 56, will become Oakland’s first female top cop and end a nearly seven month search for the replacement of former chief Sean Whent, who resigned in the midst of the police department’s sexual misconduct scandal last spring.
OPD’s recent difficulties surrounding misconduct of its officers appears well-tailored to Kirkpatrick’s strengths. According to the Seattle Times, Kirkpatrick served with the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Association, focused on police discipline since 2014. After falling short of being hired to lead Chicago’s police department, Kirkpatrick was tabbed just last June to lead its Bureau of Professional Standards.
The department was formed to implement reforms following the death of teenager Laquan McDonald, who was fatally shot 16 times by police.
After leading the Spokane Police Department for almost 10 years, Kirkpatrick appeared to have higher career aspirations, starting in 2010, when she was a finalist to become Seattle’s police chief.
The hiring of Kirkpatrick also meshes with one of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s preferences that the city’s next police chief be a woman, following the wake of scandal involving numerous Oakland police officers and the underage sex worker known as “Celeste Guap.”