Quincy checks out police chief hopefuls

QUINCY — Either a current Grant County deputy sheriff or a police commander from Sunnyside will be Quincy’s next police chief.

Friday evening, the city staged a “Meet and Greet” at the Quincy Police Department with the two finalists — Keith Siebert, a lieutenant with the Grant County Sheriff’s Department, and Scott Bailey, a commander with the Sunnyside police.

Both men have a little more than 20 years experience in law enforcement and have commanded police units and overseen department administration.

“This is home for me,” said the 47-year-old Siebert, a father of two who has been married for 27 years. “I take great pride in the Quincy community, Quincy Valley.”

During his time as a sheriff’s deputy, Siebert said he’s overseen the department’s special operations — school resource officers, animal control, sex offender registry — and he currently runs the motor patrol, K9 unit, the SWAT team and the department’s honor guard.

Bailey, a 45-year-old recently divorced father of two, said he is looking for a new challenge in life.

“I’m a big believer that if we stop learning, we start dying,” he said. “This is the next step in my career. … I’m recently divorced, so I’m a free spirit, try new things, meet new folks, and meet a new community.”

Bailey said much of his career in Sunnyside was overseeing the department’s detective, but that he had spent five years as a member of region-wide anti-drug task force. Currently, he said he oversees the department support services: running the jail, the detective unit and the communications unit.

Both men said they envisioned themselves still serving as Quincy’s police chief in five years.

“I love the sheriff’s office, and I’ll never bash the Grant County sheriff,” Siebert said. “But to finish my law enforcement career as chief of the Quincy police is just like having a rocking chair on the porch.”

Siebert was also emphatic that he had no desire to run for Grant County sheriff.

Bailey said he was looking for a place to put down roots.

“Developing connections with the community and staying here, that’s my goal,” he said.

When asked about the problems the Quincy police department has with recruiting and retaining qualified officers, both candidates noted that it’s important to recruit from within the community so that officers both understand the people they deal with and have a reason to stay.

Siebert wanted to bring the Explorer program — which allows high school students to serve alongside police — to Quincy as a way of recruiting from within the community.

Bailey said that kind of recruiting would also allow the department to deal more easily with a language problem — both candidates admitted to not being proficient in Spanish.

“That’s part of hiring from within the community,” Bailey said. “Sometimes we call LanguageLine, but they don’t always get the nuances, and they can’t see body language.”

Both candidates were scheduled to go through two interview panels Saturday morning, according to Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry. There was originally a third candidate, but Hemberry said that person dropped out of contention at the last minute.

Hemberry said he hopes to have a recommendation for a new police chief by the end of the interview process on Saturday. If so, the city council will meet to approve hiring a new chief in early November, with the chief starting work sometimes before the end of the year.

The chief will replace Interim Police Chief William Larson, who took the job in April after the previous chief, Bob Heimbach, resigned.