The Anderson Valley Post is reporting that the job of Eureka’s next police chief has been offered to Michael Johnson, a former EPD sergeant who was involved in the fatal 2006 shooting of 49-year-old Eureka resident Cheri Lyn Moore.
Eureka City Manager Bill Panos yesterday confirmed that a job offer had been made but declined to identify the candidate. However, Anderson’s city manager and three city council members confirmed that Johnson has been offered the position, according to the Post.
If you’re unfamiliar with — or have forgotten the details of — the 2006 shooting, you can read about them here and here. The Moore incident was one of five officer-involved shooting deaths in a 15-month span for the EPD. When former Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen was hired the following year, he was tasked with cleaning up the department’s reputation.
While Nielsen proved popular with much of the public, he met with fierce resistance within the department. In 2011, Nielsen was unexpectedly fired without cause by former City Manager David Tyson.
Johnson, meanwhile, left the EPD in 2007 to become the police chief in Ione, Calif. He has been Anderson’s police chief for a little over a year, according to the Post.
This article appears in Marimba!.
Damn, I was really hoping for some change. EPD continues with its good-old-boy tradition of law enforcement. I’m not at all surprised that they bore up so well to all that public input they were so intent upon and gave us what they had wanted all along. Sigh.
Culpability MUST stay turned on its head at all costs. Keeping it all in the family is usually how it’s done.
Anderson will probably follow the same agenda and promote one of its own.