ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702240073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY AND JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITERS
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on February 24, 1997. The Roanoke County
Police Department has 101 officers. A story in Sunday's paper reported
the number inaccurately.
Roanoke County Police Chief John Cease has been named one of three finalists in Wilmington, N.C.'s, search for a new police chief.
The process began with 70 applicants and has been narrowed to three, Wilmington City Manager Mary Gornto said. The other finalists are Wilmington Police Lt. Phillip Marshall Williamson and Lumberton, N.C., Police Chief Harry P. Dolan.
Wilmington City Council held a work session Saturday to decide when the final interviews will take place. The interviews could begin as early as this week, Gornto said.
Cease, Roanoke County's first police chief, came to the county in 1990 from Morgantown, W.Va., where he served as police chief for eight years.
In 1995, Cease was one of six finalists for police chief of Jefferson County, Ky.
Cease could not be reached for comment Saturday, but County Administrator Elmer Hodge said an executive search firm contacted Cease about the Wilmington post.
Hodge said he knew that Cease was a finalist, but he hopes the chief remains in Roanoke County. "He's an excellent leader, and he has done a fantastic job for us. I would hate to see him go."
Cease, 49, was hired from a field of 150 applicants when the county created its own police department.
When Cease was hired, he said that five or six years might be his limit in the job.
Hodge said Cease has been contacted by executive search firms for several police chief jobs in recent years.
Wilmington has a population of about 60,000 with about 160 police officers. Roanoke County's population is more than 80,000, and the department has more than 175 officers.
The Wilmington Police Department has been rocked by charges of racism in the past year.
Black police officers who have complained about a lack of blacks in the department's upper ranks have urged City Council to hire a new chief from outside rather than promote from within.
Nearly a quarter of Wilmington's police officers are black, but no black is above the rank of sergeant.
Black officers recently told council that it would be hard for someone now on the force to manage officers who once were his peers.
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