Henry Trabert Named Aberdeen's New Police Chief

The Aberdeen City Council unanimously confirmed Henry Trabert as the new police chief Monday, making the longtime local officer the city’s highest law enforcement official.

“I appreciate their confidence in me,” Trabert said.

After a four-month-long nationwide search, City Manager Doug Miller recommended Trabert for the permanent position. Trabert had for eight months served as the acting chief.

Mayor Michael E. Bennett said he was pleased to have Trabert take the permanent post and was satisfied with the integrity of the candidate search and hiring process.

“I’m ecstatic about our new police chief,” Bennett said following the City Council meeting. “We had three viable candidates but you had to give credence to the person who was doing the job.”

The city charter gives the city manager the authority to recruit and nominate the police chief. Then the mayor and council confirm the nomination.

Miller said he used the Novak Consulting Group to conduct a nearly four-month national search for the city’s next police chief. Catherine Tuck Parrish from Novak acted as the city’s lead consultant, Miller has said. Parrish did the marketing and received the applications.

A field of 50 applicants was reduced to five. Then it was reduced to three when two of the candidates dropped from the running, which is not uncommon, Miller has said.

Trabert competed against one candidate from New York and another from Northern Virginia. The three candidates were subjected to a three-part interview process.

First, candidates were interviewed before a panel. Second, they toured the city with the mayor. Then they had one-on-one interviews with Miller. 

Miller has said the interview panel consisted of five people:

▪                An Aberdeen resident

▪                A member of the Aberdeen business community

▪                A sworn officer from the police department

▪                A police chief from another department

▪                A member of the city of Aberdeen staff.

“When the interviews were complete, I was briefed by the panel on their observations,” Miller has said. “Their observations and mine were almost identical. Then I consulted with the mayor.”

Miller said that, based on all of the information, Trabert was the best person for the job.