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The City of Arcata is set to hire a new interim chief of police at the next meeting of the Arcata City Council. A staff report prepared in advance of the meeting recommends that the council appoint retired police chief Richard J. Ehle, who is currently working as a law enforcement consultant.

From the report:   

With the recent creation of the Chief of Police vacancy, the City has engaged a public sector executive recruitment firm to conduct a nationwide search to fill this vacancy. Searches such as this generally take at least six months until a successor is physically in place. While the City’s two Lieutenants are each capable of assuming this interim assignment, doing so would further dilute each of their capacity to continue focusing on an already demanding workload. Having an interim Chief of Police until the vacancy is filled will further assist in carrying out the day-to-day operations of the department, and reduce that impact on current staff during this transitional period.       

Ehle.

Richard “Rick” Ehle is a partner, senior consultant, and chief operating officer for Belcher, Ehle, Medina & Associates. His experience includes 25 years with the Oakland Police Department, four years with the California Department of Corrections as Assistant Director, and nine years as Chief of Capitola Police Department.

Ehle told the Outpost that he has a little bit of history with Arcata. He came up many times to visit his friend and old colleague Douglas D. Krathwohl, who served as Arcata Police Chief in 1988.

“I worked with him in Oakland for about 16 or 17 years,” Ehle said.

Arcata has had no official chief of police since Tom Chapman unexpectedly resigned earlier this year. Lieutenant Bart Silvers is currently filling the role.

Ehle only expects to serve for a few months at the most, until a permanent chief is hired.

However, during his brief time in Arcata Ehle expects to help organize and stabilize the Arcata Police Department. Ehle told the Outpost he already has a long list of things that need work.

One of the most important goals for Ehle is to continue working on the David Josiah Lawson investigation to try to bring it to a conclusion. Ehle believes with his experience he can help the department be better prepared for potential future homicide cases.

“[We need] to build a formula or a model to help reduce the likelihood of this type of situation happening again,”  Ehle said.