Sources have confirmed to KEEL News that Shreveport Substitute Police Chief Ben Raymond has not been recommended by Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins' Advisory Committee.

Raymond has served as Substitute Police Chief since former Chief Alan Crump took medical leave, before retiring from the position earlier this year.

The seven finalists for the Police Chief opening have all taken the Civil Service Exam, and have no interviewed with the Advisory Committee. During the Civil Service Exam, Raymond had the highest score of the seven with a 94.

The three names that have been recommended to the Mayor include Sgt. Michael Carter, Lt. Tedris Smith, and Assistant Police Chief Wayne Smith.

The next step is for the Mayor to personally interview the three finalists.

After that, Mayor Perkins is expected to make his decision known before the next Shreveport City Council meeting, which will be on September 24th. The anticipation is that the Council will vote on the selection at that meeting.

Could the Mayor deviate from this list of 3 finalists? He could, but he told KEEL News last month that was not likely. You can hear his remarks during this interview from August 1st.

These are experts and there would have to be a very crazy circumstance. The likelihood is very high that I'm going to select someone from the advisory committee's list. I'd put it in the 90 percentile. There would have to be a very odd thing for me to do something else.

 

So is leaving Chief Ben Raymond off of the list of finalists something "crazy" enough for the Mayor to deviate from the list? We will have to wait and see.

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