20 apply for Rome police chief slot

Local and out-ofstate candidates are under review.

Twenty candidates submitted applications to be the next chief of the Rome Police Department, according to Human Resources Director Rita Odom.

Odom said Monday that four of the applications came from city employees. City Manager Sammy Rich said both local and out-of-state candidates applied.

Rich and Odom are working together to find the next chief for the department, which has over 80 officers. Now that all of the applications are in, Rich said the next step is to go through the applications and narrow them down to a smaller list of candidates to interview. Because some of the candidates are not local, Rich said video-conferencing is an option for possible interviews.

There’s no set timeline for hiring a new chief, Rich said. He added that he would like to hire someone quickly, but he’s more interested in taking the time to find the right candidate for Rome.

Odom said she and Rich are currently interviewing candidates to run the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College — which is slated to open in June — so the search for a police chief is taking a back seat.

“Because we have Interim Chief (Lonzo) Roberson working right now, we’ve got some time before we have to make a decision,” Odom said.

Odom said she expects to sit down with Rich sometime next week to review the police chief applications.

Once Rich and Odom have interviewed the candidates on the list, Rich will present their selection to the Rome City Commission.

Among the minimum qualifications for the position are a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement, police science, criminal justice or public administration and at least 10 years experience — with at least five years in a supervisory role.

The salary range for the position was listed in the advertisement as $85,000 to $115,000 a year, based on experience.