Edmonton police on track to hire new chief by October 2018

The search for a new Edmontonpolice chief has yielded more than 10 applicants from a small pool of senior officers across the country who are qualified for the top job, says the head of the Edmonton Police Commission.

"There's maybe only 20 people in the country who would have the skills, abilities and qualifications to do the job," said Tim O'Brien, who chairs the commission.

"We were more than satisfied with the number we got but, more importantly, we were satisfied with the quality of applicants, too."

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O'Brien said the competition has attracted a "diverse applicant pool," including female candidates.

The competition for the job closed on Aug. 15. The commission hopes to have hired someone by the time Chief Rod Knecht leaves at the end of October.

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Knechthas led EPSsince 2011. In May, the police commission announced it would launch a search for a new chief, catching many including Knecht by surprise.

The chief and the commission had been discussing extending his contract, which had an initial end-date in October 2018.Knecht'scontract was not extended by the commission when the two sides couldn't agree on the length of the extension.

In an interview after the commission announced it was searching for a new chief,Knechtsaid his relationship with the police commission became "caustic" in 2017, after a communication breakdown led to trust issues.

Some members of the police commission disputed that characterization.