BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont may welcome a new police chief by the end of this week.
A committee made up of community leaders held a private Q & A with each of the four candidates who are competing to become Beaumont's next top cop.
One of them will replace longtime chief Jimmy Singletary, who is retiring.
Following the Q & A session the finalists boarded a Beaumont Municipal Transit bus and took a tour of the city for several hours.
On Wednesday evening it was time for a "meet and greet" with eager community members where the candidates shared their plans for Beaumont and the police department.
There was a large turnout of residents and quite a few Beaumont Police officers.
Residents got to hear firsthand why each candidate believes they are the best fit to become Beaumont's next police chief.
"I think I have a good understanding of what our community expects out of our police department," said finalist Jason Plunkett, who is currently assistant chief at the Beaumont Police Department.
Plunkett says he wants to apply his over 30 years of experience to addressing a nationwide police shortage and hiring new officers in the city.
"In the next few years, we are going to lose a lot of leadership," Plunket said. "We have a lot of impending retirements that are coming up. We're going to have to start developing our young officers as supervisors."
Kyra Joy Hope, who is currently the 2nd Deputy Chief of the Detroit Police Department, says her experience will allow her to strengthen the relationship between the police department and the public.
"This is what I do daily," Hope said. "I'm out with activists, our community leaders, our block club members, to bring people to the table who don't want to be at the table together, to bridge the gap between the community and the police," she explained.
Britta Steinbrenner, formerly the Chief of Public Safety at Pepperdine University after serving for 35 years with the LA County Sheriff's Department, says she saw the Beaumont job as an opportunity to come out of retirement.
"I love law enforcement, so now, I had an opportunity to try to get back into that field," she said.
Her goal is to drop the crime rate in Beaumont by 10%.
"Having officers being visible, being out in the community, I'd really like to have one or two substations to where citizens can come in and file a report, " Steinbrenner said. "It also reduces response times."
Troy Price, the deputy chief at the Vancouver Police Department in Washington state, also wants to drive down crime in the city as he said his department did in Vancouver.
"As law enforcement, we fail if we do not interpret the needs and wants of the community," Price said. "I got a really good report on some crime numbers today. I'm looking to bring a lot of those same ideas here."
The intense race for a new police chief is just days away from being finished.
Earlier one of what was originally five finalists withdrew his name, days before the fionaldecsion was to be made
Jeff Hadley, who is the Chatham County Police Chief in Savannah Ga., withdrew citing a "serious issue" with his 18-year-old son that forced him to stay in Georgia.
A second round of interviews are happening on Thursday with City Manager Kenneth Williams, assistant city managers Chris Boone and June Ellis and city attorney Sharae Bassett Reed.
On Friday, city manager Kenneth Williams will make his recommendation to the Beaumont City Council on who to hire.
City Council plans to make it's final vote on Friday afternoon.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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