ST. LOUIS – Two candidates remain in the search for the next St. Louis Police Chief: Larry Boone and Robert Tracy.
The next chief will come from another department for the first time in the department’s history.
Over the course of a year, dozens of people applied to replace John Hayden as chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police.
The city brought in four final candidates for a community forum last week:
Larry Boone, a former police chief in Norfolk, Virginia
Robert Tracy, a police chief in Wilmington, Delaware.
Melron Kelly, a deputy chief from Columbia, South Carolina.
Interim police chief in St. Louis, Lt. Col. Michael Sack.
Kelly pulled out of the race on Monday. The next day, Sack told the department that he had not been selected.
“We’ve been going through a lot of growing pains here, and while we continue to adapt to our ever-changing environment,” Sack said. “I ask that you continue to serve with the high degree of professionalism and integrity that you exhibited in 2022.”
Boone began his law enforcement career with the Norfolk Police Department in 1989. He was appointed Chief of Police on December 1, 2016.
Chief Robert J. Tracy has more than 30 years of law enforcement experience with the New York and Chicago Police Departments.
“I think getting a fresh perspective from out of state might be a good idea,” said Becky Boedeker. “I certainly hope that they would still be very involved with the community and get the community’s input in all of the issues that are going on.”
“I say we give them a chance, and hopefully they can make some improvements around the city,” said Tyler Priest. “Hopefully things get better, you know, crime rates go down all that kind of stuff. “Hopefully, they can get a larger police force downtown, help out some of the low-income areas.”
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones plans to announce the winner on Wednesday at 11 a.m.