One of the four finalists for the Tucson police chief job has withdrawn his name from consideration, the city said Tuesday.
City spokeswoman Lane Mandle confirmed that Larry B. Esquivel took his name out of the running Tuesday.
“He notified the city,” said Mandle, adding she did not know the reason behind the withdrawal.
But, “We are hearing that he got police chief in Tracy, California,” said Roland Gutierrez, president of the Tucson Police Officers’ Association. “We just found out,” he said late Tuesday.
Tracy is about 90 minutes away from San Jose, California, where Esquivel, 53, is the chief of police. He is to retire from the San Jose job in mid-January.
“We were getting positive reviews about him out there. It is disappointing that he withdrew,” said Gutierrez. “He seemed like a qualified candidate.”
The Tucson Police Officers’ Association sent representatives to each of the candidates’ current police department, or the last department they worked for, to discuss their management style with officers.
Gutierrez said the union sought information about how the candidates performed as commanders and how they reacted in different situations.
He declined to share what the union learned about the remaining three candidates.
However, Gutierrez has said the union is concerned that two of the candidates come from much smaller departments than the one here.
Esquivel, whose hometown is San Jose, climbed the ranks in the department that he has worked for since 1984, starting as a reserve officer. He had served as police chief since January 2014, and as acting chief for a year before he was named to the top job.
When Esquivel became police chief of the nation’s 10th-largest city, he worked to rebuild morale among officers who experienced pay cuts and turmoil over disability and pension reform approved by voters in 2012.
The remaining three finalists for Tucson’s next police chief are:
- Malik
Aziz, a deputy chief in the Dallas Police Department. Aziz is a 24-year veteran of the department. - Rick S. Gregory, vice president and senior research associate at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research in Tallahassee, Florida. He served more than 22 years in the Florida Highway Patrol, rising to deputy director. He served as chief of police in New Castle, Delaware, and in Provo, Utah.
- Christopher J. Magnus, chief of police in Richmond, California. He has been chief there since 2006. Before that, he was the Fargo, North Dakota, police chief from 1999 to 2005 and served in the Lansing, Michigan, Police Department.
The Police Chief Appointment Advisory Committee will interview the three finalists at a public meeting Thursday in the City Council chambers at City Hall, 255 W. Alameda St., starting at 8 a.m. The panel is expected to make a recommendation following the interviews.
Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor is to retire in December. He has served with the Police Department for 35 years.
City Manager Michael Ortega is expected to appoint the new police chief in November, pending approval by the mayor and City Council. The new chief would start working Jan. 1.
