SAN DIEGO — San Diego is one step closer to approving its next Chief of Police. Assistant Chief Scott Wahl was selected last month by Mayor Todd Gloria to replace outgoing Police Chief David Nisleit.
Monday night, San Diegans had a chance to give their feedback on the choice as city council members voted to confirm his appointment at a special meeting.
Mayor Todd Gloria says that this nationwide search for San Diego's new police chief attracted 56 candidates in total.
Scott Wahl, a fourth-generation San Diegan and son of an SDPD officer, has been on the force for 26 years.
The public had the opportunity to weigh in on his selection to lead the department on Monday.
"It is with complete confidence and considerable enthusiasm that I'm bringing forward for your consideration tonight Assistant Chief Scott Wahl to be our next Chief of Police to the San Diego Police Department," Gloria said in his opening remarks.
That enthusiasm was echoed by dozens of community members who took to the podium Monday night.
"He's a great choice," said San Diegan Scott Chipman. "There should be no hesitation in his confirmation."
"He's transparent, he's compassionate, he's tough and he's fair," added another speaker.
But not everyone was in support.
"These are our tax dollars," said Francine Maxwell of the San Diego NAACP. "These are our Black men who are stopped daily. Our BIPOC community is hungry for building a bridge."
"Black people are disproportionately stopped, arrested, detained and injured by San Diego police officers," added activist Tasha Williamson, founder of Exhaling Injustice.
"I acknowledge that those disparities exist," Wahl said.
He added that he plans to take a community-supported policing approach.
"The important change is that we're allowing the community voice to be heard first," he said, "at the forefront, not in the end, when we have those disparities that we don't like to see."
Wahl also outlined his plan to recruit and retain officers at a time when losing officers through attrition remains a major problem.
"I want to support a better work-life balance," Wahl said. "We need to look at bringing benefits to help cops to reside here and continue with employment."
Councilmember Henry Foster III was the sole 'no' vote in confirming Wahl's appointment, questioning the speed of the selection process itself.
"This has been worked on for quite some time internally," Foster said. "Mr. Wahl before us today is not a surprise, and I just want to be clear on that."
For his part, Wahl reiterated several times establishing trust between the police and the community is his top priority.
"We are not far away from a police-community relationship we can all be proud of," he said.
After Monday night's vote to confirm Wahl's appointment, the next step is for the city council to officially vote to approve Scott Wahl as the next police chief.
if passed, which seems likely, Wahl would take over as San Diego's new top cop on June 7.
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