Deputy Police Chief
Cary, North Carolina is home to over 179,000 citizens within 61 square miles and consistently ranks as one of the best midsize and high-caliber municipalities in the nation. People looking to find a home, start a business, raise a family, or retire all find more than expected in a diverse community that surpasses national averages for home values, jobs, education and personal income. Cary is the 7th largest municipality in North Carolina with more population growth expected, yet consistently ranks as one of the safest places to live in the country.
The Cary culture, dubbed "OneCary", is collaborative, accepting of new ideas, and creates opportunities for people. These values are a direct reflection of our organization's commitment to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace that reflects the community we serve. Our goal is for the workplace to be one where everyone feels valued, supported, and empowered to bring their full selves to work every day. The OneCary culture plays a significant role in helping us achieve our vision of creating public value that brings the community together and enhances lives.
ABOUT THE CARY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Strong partnerships with citizens are critically important in Cary, as it is a long-held belief that community safety is directly tied to how involved the citizens are with helping keep Cary safe. What is important to the citizens is important to the Cary Police Department. For this reason, the Cary community respects, honors, and relies upon the Cary Police Department. This is evident by the consistently high marks provided to the department on the bi-annual citizen survey. The Cary Council and organization hold the department in high regard and value their service. All have a shared interest in public safety and work together to deliver safety through excellence.
Our commitment is evident in the Police Department mission statement: Partnering with the community, the Town of Cary's Police Department will provide exemplary policing to ensure that Cary, North Carolina remains one of the nation's safest cities. The department carries out this mission by emphasizing the values of excellence, teamwork, professionalism, ethical behavior, loyalty, and trust. This is why Cary is considered one of the safest cities in the nation, ranking in the top five mid-sized cities with the lowest crime rates in the United States.
The Cary Police Department, with a current budget of almost $26M is comprised of 238 employees, 197 of which are sworn police officers. In addition, numerous volunteers support the department as we employ geographic policing districts to ensure Cary remains as safe as possible. The department is a complex operation consisting of several divisions; Professional Standards Bureau, Field Operations Bureau, Special Operations Bureau, and Support Services. Within each division are several specialty units such as the K-9 team, School Resource Team, Internal Affairs, Property and Evidence, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, to name a few. The department also houses the Emergency Communications Center which operates as a primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) providing emergency dispatch for three municipalities. Current initiatives include but are not limited to Project PHOENIX (Promoting Healthy Occupancy through Education, Networking, and Information eXchange) and Reimagining Policing Pledge. All of this and more allows the Cary Police Department to provide exceptional service while facing today's challenges.
In collaboration with 2 additional Deputy Police Chiefs, this position serves as a key contributing member of the Cary Police Department management team. The Deputy Police Chief manages operational activities of a major functional area within the Police Department ensuring effective, positive, community-oriented policing philosophy is delivered at the highest level of service.
Typical tasks include, but are not limited to:
- Provides support and assistance to the Chief of Police; serves in the absence of the Chief;
- Plans, implements and evaluates all police functions; directly oversees a large division;
- Develops and implements long-range programs designed to enhance police service;
- Assists in planning for the future of the department by career development and customer service delivery assessments;
- Manages employee evaluation and compensation program; manages the process, reviews evaluations, coaches and counsels supervisors and allocates funds;
- Applies fair and impartial disciplinary actions when needed;
- Develops and recommends police policies, procedures, rules, regulations and programs;
- Prepares and reviews operational and administrative reports; makes reports to Town officials on special situations;
- Provides input on hiring and disciplinary actions;
- Addresses the news media as appropriate;
- Attends meetings and serves on committees, boards, and agencies related to promoting crime prevention and improving law enforcement;
- Attends public functions representing the department and the town related to policing practices and community interaction;
- Stands in for the Chief of Police when needed;
- Performs other job-related tasks as required.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced, well-respected, community-oriented law enforcement professional who expects nothing but the best from and for the Cary community, their colleagues, and themselves.
Preferred attributes of the next Deputy Police Chief:
- Genuine interest in enhancing the quality of life for residents.
- Ability to foster the OneCary culture of People First, Evolution, Working Smart, and Anyone Can Lead.
- Ability to operate in a dynamic fast-paced, innovative workplace with high expectations for producing work.
- Ability to effectively strategize, exercise common sense, provide sound and practical advice promptly, and identify and prioritize the most important things.
- Strong written and oral communication and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships that reflect Cary's adaptive leadership and collaborative/non-hierarchical culture.
- Ability to maintain cooperative relationships with colleagues, Town officials, regional law enforcement leaders, and the public.
- Ability to have productive, difficult conversations and deal effectively with difficult problems.
- Comprehensive knowledge of laws, rules and court decisions relating to the administration of criminal justice and law enforcement.
- Comprehensive knowledge of scientific methods of crime detection, criminal identification, and radio communications.
- Ability to lead and direct the activities of police officers and grow future leaders within the department.
- Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of police operations and to institute improvements.
- Ability to prepare and review reports.
- Ability to use resourcefulness and sound judgment in emergencies.
Minimum and Preferred Qualifications
The selected candidate must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with major coursework in the field of law enforcement, public administration, or a related field with a master's degree in a similar field preferred. The position requires a minimum of 10 years of experience in law enforcement of a wide and progressively responsible nature in police service, including at least five years of supervisory or managerial experience at the command level. Experience should be in mid-sized (50-999 sworn officers) to a larger-sized (1000+ sworn officers) community that has experienced the challenges associated with substantial urban growth. Experience in police services, planning, management, community policing, and community relations for a diverse/high service level population is ideal. Preference will be given to candidates with command level training such as Southern Police Institute, Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy, Administrative Officers Management Program (AOMP), Police Executive Research Forum Executive Leadership Training, or equivalent.
Cary Police is focused on leadership development and producing future leaders both inside and outside of the organization. Preference will be given to candidates who express interest in pursuing leadership beyond this role.
Conditions of Employment
- Possession of a valid NC driver's license or the ability to obtain within 60 days of hire.
- Ability to obtain Law Enforcement Certification issued by the State of North Carolina. Out-of-state candidates must have current certification as a municipal or local government law enforcement officer issued by his/her respective state and have no more than a one-year break in full-time sworn service at the time of appointment. Please note that specific certification requirements exist for candidates with federal law enforcement certification. Applicants with federal law enforcement experience should check with the North Carolina Department of Justice - Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission to identify specific individual requirements for obtaining North Carolina Law Enforcement Certification.
- Requires successful completion of a drug testing and background check (which may include criminal history check, motor vehicle records check, education verification and credit history review) and satisfactory reference checks prior to employment.