After searching more than a year for a new police chief, Woodland Mayor Grover Laseke believes he’s finally found the right guy for the job.
On Wednesday, Laseke told The Columbian he plans to hire Phillip Crochet, a longtime recruiting and training commander in Austin, Texas, to take the helm at what has been a tumultuous time for the Woodland Police Department. The announcement has been delayed nearly two months to wait out background checks after four finalists were interviewed for the position.
Crochet, from Cedar Park, Texas, launched his career in law enforcement in the mid-1980s as a narcotics agent, going undercover as a high school student. Since 1991, he has worked for the Austin Police Department.
Whether he’ll actually get the new job depends on confirmation from the Woodland City Council, which rejected the mayor’s previous pick in May. But Laseke feels confident in Crochet’s chances, saying he was the top choice of most everyone involved with the selection process.
“I think the people involved with the testing liked the way Phillip handled himself and his many years of experience,” Laseke said in an email to The Columbian. “He has the experience to get the job done and has researched the city both before and after the interviews to become familiar with the community and the problems we faced.”
Woodland officials began looking for a new chief last fall after former chief Rob Stephenson announced his retirement. Sgt. Brad Gillaspie briefly took over on an interim basis, but Laseke replaced him in June after a detective filed a tort claim against the city, announcing plans to sue for upwards of $2 million.
The detective, David Plaza, accused Gillaspie of numerous conduct violations. The accusations include sexual harassment and invasions of privacy targeted at young females, and using racial slurs against Plaza, who is of Filipino, Mexican and Italian descent.
Plaza was on paid administrative leave at the time, while the department investigated him for theft allegations. An investigator with the Washington State Patrol cleared Plaza of those accusations in September and he returned to work this month.
Plaza argues his superiors kept him off the job in retaliation for reporting Gillaspie’s behavior to Laseke. In August, Plaza took his fight a step further, filing a public records lawsuit against the city, seeking misconduct records and complaints against Gillaspie.
Exactly how Plaza’s return to work will change the course of his court battles is unclear at this point, his attorney Greg Ferguson said.
In addition to the ongoing legal battles, the city has already rebooted its search for a new chief twice this year — most recently in May and first in February when the councilors told Laseke they thought the selection process was flawed.
The councilors are set to vote on Crochet’s appointment on Dec. 1. If he gets their confirmation, Crochet’s first day on the job will be Dec. 15.
