There are 4 Candidates Who Want to be the Next El Paso Chief of Police.

According to Mayor Oscar Leaser, each one is very qualified to take on the role that was left vacant by the sudden, unexpected passing of Chief Greg Allen back in January of this year.

Chief of police is NOT an elected office and, according to the El Paso Times, Interim City Manager Cary Westin will be responsible for making the final decision.

Westin, like Leeser, says that any of the four candidates would be an excellent choice.

Here are the men who are up for chief of police:

Peter Pacillas

Pacillas has been serving as interim Chief since Greg Allen’s death in January. Pacillas, like the other candidates, says that community relations and open lines of communication are key to the job.

Many of the officers I’ve spoken to say that Pacillas is their man. They describe him as “a cop’s chief” and the natural successor to Chief Allen.

David Ransom

An El Paso native and 21-year veteran of the EP Police Department, Ransom is currently the head of the police force at the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

Ransom says that he would love to move back to El Paso and “finish off what I started in 1992”.

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Victor Zarur

Zarur has been on the EPPD since 1995 and previously worked for the El Paso Sheriff’s Department. Zarur points to his years of experience in the department and his rise through the ranks.

Mr. Zarur was named interim assistant chief earlier this year.

Steve Dye

Of the four, Dye is the only one without a direct connection to El Paso. He currently serves as city manager for Grand Prairie, Texas.

Previous to that job, he had 35 years of policing experience including 10 years as chief of the Houston police department.

The job of picking a new chief comes as the department has been rocked by arrests of officers for sexual harassment, DWIs, and misconduct in preventing another officer’s arrest.

El Paso continues to rank among the safest large cities in the United States, especially in the area of violent crime.