CLOSE

Tempe police Chief Sylvia Moir’s resignation signals a change that could open the door to greater reform at a department that has been rocked by controversies in recent years.

The city announced Moir’s resignation on Tuesday after four years on the job. Her last day is Oct. 25.

City Manager Andrew Ching said the decision comes as the city seeks to make long-term changes within the department.

Police departments across the country are facing a reckoning amid protests spurred by police brutality against minorities. The death of George Floyd, who was killed while in custody of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, has brought concerns of systemic racism in policing and the greater American culture to the forefront.

In the Valley, Tempe is one of the only cities to begin discussing in earnest what police’s role in the community should be as the department confronts a culture that some residents and community organizers say has led to disparate treatment of Black and Hispanic residents and other vulnerable populations.

City officials are looking at what type of calls, such as mental health calls, could be better handled by other departments, an effort driven by calls from the public to reexamine police funding and its impacts on communities.

REFORMING POLICING: Police get the bulk of Phoenix-area city budgets. Could calls for reform reshape that?

The city recently announced the creation of a police task force to examine police policies and procedures, and other initiatives to address equity and access to opportunities in the city.

Ching said he is looking for a police chief who will embrace changes as Tempe goes through this process. He doesn’t believe Moir’s resignation will delay the work the city has started, he said.

Elected leaders and a union representative said the resignation provides the city an opportunity to look at how the department can better serve residents and to find a leader who can take the department in the right direction.

‘Crucial time in our society’

Ching said Moir’s resignation is not tied to a specific incident or issue at the police department. Local and national discussions on policing provided the city a chance to go in a different leadership direction, he said.

He and Moir had spent the last few weeks discussing the future of the department and her resignation was the result of those conversations, he said.

“We’re at a very crucial time in our society. The focus on social justice and systemic racism, especially as it applies to the police department — not just here but nationwide — is a significant topic of concern for myself,” he said. “We have made a lot of progress but we have a lot of work to do and that work should be carried out by the next (police chief).”

Moir did not respond to a request for comment, but she sent an email to the department on Tuesday that offered her take on the resignation.

“In conversations with City Manager Andrew Ching, he has been clear about who should finish the work and who should have a seat at the table for the reforms desired,” she wrote. “These conversations have culminated in making the difficult decision to resign from my position.”

Ongoing discussions about changes in policing are “real” and “justified,” she said. However, she noted that she felt the department was already on the right track.

She said she is sure the new chief and city leaders will be able to build off her work and what the department is already doing as the city works to achieve reform.

“I am supremely confident that they will have little work but to amplify what we already do and how we do it,” she wrote.

She praised the department’s work, organizational strength and a city crime rate she said was at a 20-year low, despite the current climate.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting data in 2018 shows Tempe had the Valley’s second-highest violent crime rate per capita and the highest property crime rate per capita.

She said the department handles calls for service with professionalism and “unparalleled compassion,” but a few of the nearly 150,000 calls are mishandled.

“Those few capture attention but they do not define us and they do not reflect the incredible work that I witness in you,” she said. “I refuse to permit the negativity of the few to diminish my admiration and respect for the men and women of Tempe P.D. and my love for the noble profession of policing.”

What city leaders, union reps say they’re looking for in next leader

Ching said he seeks someone who will be at the department long-term to oversee what he expects will be a multiyear reform effort.

The person will have an eye toward social justice and “embrace the change and really evolve alongside it and implement it” to help the department become a “progressive, dynamic 21st-century police department,” he said.

Council member Lauren Kuby described the next leader as a “change agent.” The city is in a pivotal moment where leaders and residents can shape where they want the department to go, she said.

At the police department, officers are also looking at Moir’s resignation as an opportunity for change, according to Rob Ferraro, president of the Tempe Officers Association.

Ferraro said her departure marks a transition for the department that could open the door to rank and file officers, elected officials and residents coming together to discuss how the department can better serve the community and provide a voice to those who feel they have historically been left out of the conversation.

It also provides the department a chance to build or strengthen its relationship with the community, which allows officers to better do their job, he said.

The department needs someone who will support officers and reaffirm the department’s mission while also being open to change and having difficult conversations, he said.

He said the last several months have been “uncomfortable” for him and other officers, but he has used the opportunity to look inward and grow from the experience. He said the department needs a leader who is open to doing the same and who can acknowledge that services can always be improved.

“Life should not be about being comfortable,” he said. “Policing is ever changing and should always be evolving to better serve the citizens of the community.”

He said the change in leadership will hopefully open the door for the association and rank and file members of the department to have greater say on where the department goes.

How will the position be filled?

The police chief reports to the city manager, not the City Council, under Tempe’s charter.

Ching will be tasked with hiring an interim police chief and finding the permanent leader. 

He said he plans to appoint an interim chief in the next few weeks and will look internally and externally to fill the position. 

He wants someone who will embrace the role and understand that even though it’s a temporary position there is still work to be done. The person must be “an agent for stability” while also being open to change within the department so that reform work can continue, he said.

Ching will then guide the city through its search for a permanent chief. He said it’s too early to say what that process will look like or a timeline for a permanent hire. 

Ching oversaw the process to hire Moir in 2016. Residents had input in what that process looked like and during the hiring process and he expects it will be the same this time, he said.

Mayor Corey Woods said he hopes the council can sit down with Ching to weigh in on the hiring process and share what they value in a leader and what direction they want to take the department in, but ultimately the decision is up to the city manager.

“We can probably talk about our 30,000-foot view of where the police department and city goes but he is ultimately tasked with making that decision,” he said.

Reach reporter Paulina Pineda at [email protected] or 480-389-9637. Follow her on Twitter: @paulinapineda22.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2020/09/16/resignation-tempe-police-chief-sylvia-moir-points-to-new-direction-policing-reforms/5811626002/