Antioch mayor announces new interim police chief

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KRON) - The city of Antioch now has a new interim police chief. Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe made the announcement during a news conference on Wednesday.

“I recognize that change is difficult but that difficulty can never get in the way of our pursuit to become a better city,” Mayor Thorpe said. 

Against tradition, Mayor Thorpe looked outside the city and across the bay where he found Dr. Steven Ford, a 31-year San Francisco police veteran who currently serves as Commander of SFPD's Community Engagement Division.

“Restoring and bolstering community trust is critical and I look forward to establishing meaningful relationships with our schools, our businesses, our neighborhoods, our faith-based groups and most importantly and specifically our youth. To Mayor Thorpe again, to city council all-inclusive, city manager Johnson that you again sincerely for trusting me to lead this organization,” Dr. Ford said.

Despite thanks to all city council members, only a select few were made aware of this announcement.

“I had no idea. My phone has been blowing up all afternoon, texts, calls, "did you know?" I had no clue! And we had a city council meeting last night,”

Lori Ogorchock said. 

City councilmember Lori Ogorchock says she was blindsided on Wednesday and says neither the mayor nor any other leaders informed her that the city was even looking for a replacement interim police chief.

“There was no public process on this. I didn't know and then on top of it I personally have a lot of questions. I don't even know how Dr. Ford was selected. Was there an interview process? When was it? Or was this something that was pre-planned? Did they know about this? How long did they know?”

Ogorchock said. 

Ogorchock says the police department is already short-staffed and she worries what this might do to morale.

She says she reached out to the city manager's office about this but hasn't heard back. 

Meanwhile, Mayor Thorpe also announced the creation of a new position within the department.

“Unit cohesion cannot be achieved when there isn't a clear chain of command therefore I will be advancing the measure that immediately creates a deputy chief of police position at the Antioch Police Department that focuses on long-term planning,” Mayor Thorpe said. “And you talk about transparency? There's no transparency with this, none.”

KRON4 reached out to Mayor Thorpe Wednesday evening but has not heard back yet.

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