Poll: Readers share priorities for new Police Chief

Our timing was good. We had a hunch announcement of the new police chief was coming when we created last week’s poll.

The city announced Wednesday that it has hired Mark Goodman, a commander with the Pasadena, Calif., Police Department, as Maricopa police chief. The 28-year law-enforcement veteran will assume his post in Maricopa on Jan. 23.

We wondered what qualities Maricopans are looking for in the person heading their Police Department, so we asked, “What qualities are most important in Maricopa’s new police chief?”

The votes were very closely split between the two top responses.

“Effectively manages resources while serving unique needs of rapidly growing community,” garnered just over one-third of the votes at 34.9%.

Just behind, at 32.1%, was the response, “Community-service minded: Develops team that truly wants to be part of the community.”

The final two responses split the votes, each receiving 16.5% of the tallies. They were: “Innovative, dynamic thinker: Understands officer with gun not always bet incident response,” and “other.”

Former Chief James Hughes resigned in September. The city subsequently launched a nationwide search, which yielded Goodman.

Goodman has ties to Arizona, with all three of his daughters having attended Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. He and his wife bought a home there years ago so they could visit their girls frequently. They will live in that home until they can find a permanent home in Maricopa, he said.