Police chief finalists down to three

HOT SPRINGS — City Manager Bill Burrough announced the finalists for police chief Thursday, narrowing a field of 30 applicants to three candidates.

Chris Chapmond, the department’s former assistant chief and the current chief of the Bluffton, S.C., Police Department made the final three, joining Jeff Crow and Shannon Youngblood. Chapmond served 22 years on the Hot Springs Police Department before going to coastal South Carolina in July 2018.

Crow of Malvern is the director of safety and emergency management at Ouachita Baptist University. The former state trooper and administrator of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission lost a bid in March for the Republican nomination for the District 13 state Senate seat. He and Chapmond are both former Marines who served in the first Gulf War.

Youngblood, the chief of operations for the Montgomery, Ala., Police Department, was among more than 20 out-of-state candidates who applied for the job.

Burrough said he and the advisory panel he formed plan to interview the finalists in person next week.

Burrough said the candidates will tour the department and the city and meet with the city Board of Directors.

Texarkana Police Chief Robert Harrison and former Missouri Capitol Police Chief Mark Maples advanced to the short list of candidates, but neither was selected for an interview.

The new chief will succeed Jason Stachey, who announced his retirement, effective Friday , last month. The city said none of the department’s current employees applied for the job.

The city’s police department employs 135 people, including 107 uniformed employees.