A retirement announcement from Graham’s chief of police has set the stage for a forthcoming battle royale over the leadership of the city’s municipal police force.
Chief Kristi Baker, who has led the police force since 2020, ignited this succession struggle on Friday when she posted an announcement on the police department’s Facebook page about her impending retirement on September 1.
According to Daniel Sisk, a spokesman for the police department, the city will eventually solicit applications from Baker’s would-be successors.
“The city is going to post the position of chief both internally and externally,” Sisk elaborated in an interview earlier this week, “and all internal and external candidates will go through the application process.”
The final selection of Graham’s new police chief will rest with city manager Megan Garner, who was herself an external hire when she was entrusted with the manager’s post by Graham’s city council.
Previous city managers have nevertheless tended to look within the ranks of the city’s police force to fill the police chief’s position. Baker’s own ascent to the department’s top spot is a case in point of this pattern.
According to a news release from her appointment as chief in 2020, Baker had been steadily promoted after joining the city’s police force in 1997 and was serving as the department’s assistant police chief when she was tapped to take over as the chief’s role on an interim basis in June of 2020.
Graham’s personnel records put Baker’s current salary at $124,768.33, making her the sixth most highly paid person on the city’s payroll.
