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The City of Greensboro held its first round of public input sessions last week as part of the search for its next police chief. The sessions are designed to gather feedback from residents on the qualities, priorities and expectations for the city’s future law enforcement leader.
The meetings follow the announcement by Police Chief John Thompson that he will retire at the end of February 2026. Thompson, who joined the Greensboro Police Department in 2003, has served as chief since December 2022.
Greensboro is working with the search firm Developmental Associates, LLC, which also led the searches for the city’s two most recent police chiefs. Consultant Pat Bazemore, a retired police chief from Cary, N.C., facilitated the community sessions.
Bazemore noted that the tenure for police chiefs nationwide typically ranges from three to five years. She emphasized that the hiring process goes far beyond reviewing résumés.
“A thorough background investigation will be conducted on the applicant that receives a conditional offer,” Bazemore said. “Applicants submit a résumé and application, but that’s just a small part of what we’re looking for. They may be a great police chief somewhere, but they may not be the right police chief for Greensboro.”
Residents at the sessions were asked to respond to four central questions aimed at identifying challenges facing the department, key priorities for its next leader, qualities and skills that are essential for the job, and examples of high performance from past leadership.
At the Peeler Recreation Center meeting in District 2, attendees stressed the importance of hiring a chief who understands Greensboro’s history, particularly the long-standing concerns about policing in marginalized communities.
“Understanding the history of Greensboro—police corruption and racism on a statewide and national level—is essential,” said resident TC Muhammed. “Look at innovative ways of policing based on what can be done, not what has always been done.”
Phillips Avenue resident and business owner, Gene Blackmon, said the next chief must be able to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community.
“Someone that will hold their force, or their department, accountable for things that are not up to standard,” he said.
Blackmon also expressed concern that an overemphasis on regulatory stops has created a pretext for disproportionately stopping Black and Brown drivers. He called for a more inclusive process for reporting alleged police misconduct, with better follow-up on citizen complaints.
Blackmon, along with community activist Jason Hicks, said the department would benefit from selecting a chief from within Greensboro’s command staff, adding that a woman could be an ideal choice.
Attendees also named other qualities they believe are crucial, including cultural competence, the ability to police all neighborhoods fairly, and leadership that is both firm and compassionate.
At-large City Council member Jamila Pinder suggested that the next chief must also understand the role of mental health in crime and community safety.
Greensboro Assistant City Manager of Public Safety, Andrea Harrell, said community participation is a critical part of the hiring process.
“We want people to describe what they want to see in a new police chief and give some of the things that they don’t want in a police chief,” Harrell said. “That’s just as important.”
Comments at the first community meeting on November 19, held at Craft Recreation Center, were slightly different. Former Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau president Henri Fourrier argued that crime in the city has reached unacceptable levels, declaring that, “the city is overrun by criminals and homeless people,” and that “it is imperative that the police and city council take their city back.”
Guilford County resident Jeri Donnelly said that even though she lives in Browns Summit, Greensboro’s public safety directly affects her community.
“There’s more to policing than just stopping crime,” she said. “People in their neighborhoods deserve to be safe. They deserve to be trustful of the police, and they need to have their concerns answered.”
In addition to the public meetings, Developmental Associates will meet with the Greensboro Criminal Justice Advisory Commission, the Police Foundation, city staff, and department leaders to gather additional input.
Attendance at the first three sessions, held at Craft Recreation Center, Peeler Recreation Center, and Lindley Recreation Center, has been low, with an estimated 20 to 30 participants in total, according to Harrell.
The city plans to hold a second round of public input sessions in December. After all sessions are complete, the job posting is expected to go live in January on both the Developmental Associates website and the City of Greensboro’s website. The application will remain open for at least 30 days before the pool is narrowed to 15 to 20 candidates.
From there, the city manager’s team will reduce the field to five candidates who will participate in a skills assessment process, including a community meeting, a presentation exercise, and a written exercise. Officials will then decide whether to move two or three finalists forward before making a final hiring decision. The goal is to have a new chief in place by spring 2026.
City Manager Trey Davis said an interim chief will likely be appointed from within the department once Thompson steps down, though no candidate has yet been identified.
The next public input meetings are:
