City of Prineville invited community out to meet three candidates vying to be next police chief

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) – The City of Prineville is looking for a new police chief.

At Ron’s Comfort Food Café, community members were invited Wednesday evening to meet-and-greet three finalists: Tom Crino, Kenneth Booker and Chad Davis.

Prineville City Councilor Marvin Sumner said, “I think we want someone that's going to bring in stability, knowledge, ability to work with people in the community and again, just become a part of this community.”

The city of Prineville has experienced a bit of bad luck when it comes to the police chief position.

In January of this year, Police Chief Larry Seymour and Captain Rob Gray resigned after an investigation into the two men had been completed.

The city was not forthcoming with any information as to the abrupt resignations, or if it had anything to do with the findings of that investigation.

Fast-forward: In June, after three finalists, one set to become the next Prineville police chief, paid a visit and met with officials and the community, the city announced that none of them would be chosen, and another round of search efforts would begin. That brings us to Wednesday.

Tom Crino, Kenneth Booker and Chad Davis are the three finalists for Prineville’s next chief of police.

Lets meet them.

Tom Crino:

“What I found is this: This town and this area lines up better with my belief systems, my values. I currently live in a small town of 5,000 people in Yamhill County, and so the idea of living and being a part of a small community like this is very attractive to me.”

Kenneth Booker:

“It's exciting to be here! I can say, you can jump on the computer, you can read about things, you can read the brochure, which was great, but it's nothing like having boots on the ground. When you get here, you get to feel the city.”

Chad Davis:

“Right now I'm serving as basically the de facto police chief for the city of Sisters, as part of the sheriff's office contract. So I interact right now with city manager, city council, city staff and departments, and running the law enforcement protection for the city Sisters.”

Some community members are looking for something specific in their next police chief.

Prineville resident, Dale McCray:

“A moral compass - you know, someone that cares about standards and will uphold them and has a good conscience, as you could see.”

All three candidates are uniquely different.

On Thursday, the candidates will participate in interviews with four panels made up of regional public safety professionals, community leaders and Prineville Police. Then, the city councilors, as well as the city manager will get together, discuss the candidates and make a decision.