Is the Bluffton police chief leaving? Chapmond named a top candidate for Arkansas job
Editor’s note: Bluffton Police Chief Chris Chapmond further advanced Thursday and was named one of the final three candidates. The current Hot Springs police chief retires May 29.
Bluffton’s police chief, who has been in the position for less than two years, was named one of the final five candidates for the top position at a department in Arkansas where he previously worked.
Chief Chris Chapmond applied to for the chief position at the Hot Springs Police Department late last month, he previously told The Island Packet.
After confirming he applied to his old department, he declined to comment further because applications were still open. He said he was not actively looking for a job when the position became open.
Thirty people from across the nation applied for the Hot Springs job, and five of them, one of which was Chapmond, were interviewed by a four-person panel Monday via video teleconference, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported early Wednesday.
The panel of local leaders, created by the city manager, consisted of the Civil Service Commission chairman, school district superintendent, a NAACP chapter president, and the general manager of the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
Three of the five candidates interviewed will be selected for in-person interviews, which will include time with city staff and board of directors, as well as a tour of the city and police department.
Before coming to Bluffton in 2018, Chapmond had been with the Hot Springs department since 1996, where he served as assistant chief for multiple years. During a public forum that included him and one other finalist for the Bluffton job, he said if he were hired, he planned to stay for “an extended amount of time.”
The Bluffton Police Department has struggled with a revolving door of police chiefs. Chapmond’s two predecessors both left amid controversy, and if he leaves, Bluffton will be hiring its fourth police chief in as many years.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 10:01 AM.
