Flagstaff police chief candidates meet the public

The five candidates include two current members of the Flagstaff Police Department, Lt. Charles Hernandez II and Deputy Police Chief Collin Seay, as well as Capt. Colin King from the Tucson Police Department, Deputy Chief Kenneth Booker of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Operational Executive Police Chief Sean Connolly from the Phoenix Police Department.

In its original announcement of the five finalists, the City of Flagstaff provided details on the education and previous work history for the group. Three of the candidates studied in Flagstaff at Northern Arizona University, with King receiving his master’s degree, Seay earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and Connolly also completing a master’s degree.

CHARLES HERNANDEZ II

Previously a sergeant and lieutenant for the Flagstaff Police Department (FPD), Hernandez grew up on the Southside of Flagstaff and attended school through the Flagstaff Unified School District. Now in his 20th year for the department, Hernandez previously served as a patrol officer, a field training officer, a corporal, a traffic enforcement officer, a bomb technician and public information officer among other roles.

“I'm a student of leadership, I consistently and continuously learn from those who I lead and serve,” Hernandez said during his introduction. “I try to inspire and develop other officers and staff and team members to go through and accomplish our mission and vision.”

Currently serving as a liaison to multiple community programs, Hernandez explained he is a member of the Coconino Community College Foundation Board, the Boys & Girls Club of Flagstaff, and the Flagstaff Leadership Program Board.

“While I've been there in the community, I've seen the community grow,” he said. “I think my unique perception, going through the Flagstaff Leadership Program, as well as living and growing up in a community, is valuable experience to lead an organization where the evolution of policing in our community and what the expectations are can be met through my vision.”

Hernandez’s experience as FPD’s public information officer provided the context for his answer to the second question of the forum -- which focused on community engagement. Mentioning the passage of SB 1070 by the Arizona Legislature in 2010, Hernandez offered insight into the experience for the Hispanic community.

“I understood that my culture, and my sense of being that I bring to this profession, is more important than just enforcing laws,” he said. “I understood that the community seeing me in a position of authority, and being able to relate to me and feel comfortable speaking with me without the fear of being arrested is huge. It goes a long way for establishing those relationships with the community; that transcends into the Indigenous population, it transitions to the African American population.”

COLIN KING

Having traveled abroad to Germany during his senior year of high school, and later returning to work in Germany and Japan, King explained he did not always plan to serve as a police officer. A political science graduate from the University of Arizona, King initially desired a role with the State Department.

The desire to pursue a career in law enforcement originated with taking ride-alongs with the police department.

“I completely did a 180 in my career plan and became a police officer,” King said. “The reason why is you have an immediate impact in your community, not just once, but multiple times each day. You're able to help people in the community, and that was something I fell in love with. I stayed with the same department, and I still am as enthusiastic today working for the police department as I was 22 years ago.”

During his 22 years with the Tucson Police Department, King has been a patrol officer, undercover officer, a patrol supervisor, a hostage crisis negotiator, and a commander for the investigative unit and special victims section.

In response to the question of what would success look like should he be in the role of police chief, King focused on the leadership from the top down through to the newest recruits working in the field.

“We're sending out 21-, 22-year-old young people, giving them four or five months of training, throwing them out in the field training for another 17 weeks and expecting them to solve some of our community's toughest challenges,” he said. “They cannot do that on their own. So that's where it comes to the police chief and the leadership team in the city to be able to provide the proper tools, to provide the proper training, provide the proper support, and then follow up constantly related to that.”

King’s experience includes being the chief of staff for the Tucson Police Department in 2020 when George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin -- which was a key moment in his work within the community. Working in collaboration with community protests, he highlighted the efforts to support the needs of peaceful protests in addition to policing agitators within the group.

“The takeaway from that is community and community relationships aren't just when it's convenient or when it's needed -- community and community relationships are everyday, all the time, at all levels of the agency,” he said.

COLLIN SEAY

Joining the FPD as a patrol officer in 2006, Seay explained he is well versed in the details of Flagstaff’s community. Seay said his vision as the potential police chief includes assuring Flagstaff is safe for residents and tourists alike.

“We're going to make Flagstaff the safest place to live in Arizona,” he said. “One thing I'm very passionate about is every neighborhood in our community, your kids can walk down the street and it's a safe place to do that. That's our role as police officers. We're a destination tourist place to visit, our downtown is very vibrant. It's our job, and my job as police chief, to make that a safe place for all tourists to come and visit.”

Seay pledged to be a police chief of transparency and accountability, with the role calling for him to be the “outward face of the agency.” Additionally, Seay spoke to the multiple FPD staff members in attendance at the meet-and-greet with a promise to be approachable to them all as well.

Speaking to what success in the position would look like for him, Seay highlighted a desire to retain employees in the department. He said with a loss of 20% of the staff each year, his desire to move employees through the organization is faced with a common theme in Flagstaff.

“I know there's a high cost of living and hopefully there's something we can do to bridge that gap by becoming creative with housing options,” he said. “But my goal would be to have a staff that's resilient, that stays and we're able to become professional police officers by keeping our experienced officers around.”

Having taken on the project to certify what is now the High Country Training Academy through Coconino Community College, Seay explained he hoped that will continue for the decades ahead as well as going further with the creation of an advanced officer training staff in the fiscal year of 2025.

“It involves tremendous community involvement,” he said. “We use community members, we use our Indigenous coordinator to teach different cultural values to all of our recruits, we use our local fire department to build those relationships at the basic training level.”

KENNETH BOOKER

With more than 32 years in law enforcement, Booker previously served as the interim police chief in Youngtown, Arizona, as well as having applied to be the interim sheriff for Maricopa County in January. The decades of experience include a rise through the ranks to his current role as deputy chief.

“At each juncture, what you learn is that the focus is no longer on you,” he said. “It becomes on the people, it becomes on the community. As you go up each stage, you have more and more influence that you exert over the organization and the people who are within the organization.”

Booker said this advancement culminated with his appointment to deputy chief and a pursuit of mending relationships. He stressed that once a relationship is established, there’s a commitment to assisting one another more deeply.

“The community has to know that the organization, the agency, that's been appointed to provide protection and to ensure the quality of life is an organization that is open and transparent,” he added. “One that believes in integrity and one that looks at people, and says that we're going to treat you with dignity and we're going to treat you with respect.”

That belief translated into what Booker felt would be the best measure of success in the role of police chief as he noted that every contact with the public is important. When engaging with the community outside of regular law enforcement work, he said he would want to see officers out at sports games or local events in order to be part of the community without each interaction being strictly through policing.

“If you want a thriving community, then you have to ensure that people feel like this is the place where we want to be,” he said.

An example of those interactions with the community during his career specifically, Booker discussed his experience with working directly with the public and its displeasure over the outcomes of traffic stops. Understanding that it is tough for someone when their organization was involved in an injustice to the community, he described the work owed to the community to hear the community out.

“It was very important to hear that hurt,” he said. “We are making corrections and that needs to be conveyed. That’s what we conveyed, and out of that the relationship started to get better. The tones changed with community members.”

SEAN CONNOLLY

Highlighting a family connection back to Flagstaff through his parents, Connolly spoke to the environment in which the city resides in Arizona.

“This is a treasured environment here,” he said. “We must always respect the Indigenous lands that we’re on and at the same token, treat this place as the special place that it is.”

A 30-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, Connolly’s work has included time as a sergeant, lieutenant, commander and assistant police chief in the Valley. Citing that experience in one of the largest cities in the United States, he said he hoped to bring some of those lessons learned to Flagstaff.

“It is not about bringing Phoenix or Tucson or any of that to this community,” he said. “What it is about is bringing this relationship capital, experience and being involved in one of the biggest cities in America that has produced some of the best practices on a whole host of levels. As your police chief, I will develop it, cultivate it and ensure that this police department is set up for the future with some of the incredible talent you already see here today.”

Having held nearly every position within a police department, Connolly said this is important to his qualifications as it will best inform and provide context to decisions that will be made. He listed strong policy, systems of accountability and a “world-class” wellness program as the foundation of a great police department. Additionally, he explained that a department could not be successful without collaboration from community relationships.

When addressing what would qualify as success in the role of police chief, Connolly said the success is all interwoven within the roles in the city and each leader is a reflection of each other.

“In policing, we must not forget that we share and shift responsibility collaboratively,” he said. “With so many social stakeholders trying to impact social determinants of health, what we also have to do is stay focused on what our primary role in this community is, and that is promoting, protecting and enhancing quality of life and safety.”