Town Aims to Hire New Police Chief by September

FOXBOROUGH, MA - If all goes according to plan, Foxborough will have a new police chief by September.

Tuesday night, town officials laid out the timeline to hire the town’s next police chief, with the process expected to begin on May 1.

Assistant Town Manager Mary Beth Bernard told the Board of Selectmen that’s the date the position will be posted online and advertised on police sites. A request for proposals for an assessment center for finalist will also be issued that day.

Applicants will have until June 1 to submit their interest, with resume screening to take place from June 6-10 and 15-minute phone interviews to be conducted From June 20-24.

Between July 6-12, panel interviews will take place. One panel will be made up of public safety experts with the second one consisting of the town manager, assistant town manager, superintendent of schools, a member of the Board of Selectmen, and a human services representative. At the end of the interviews, the two groups will decide which candidates should advance to a two-day assessment center to take place in early to mid-August.

In the assessment center, the candidates will spend two days going through simulations. According to Bernard, exercises could be a simulated town meeting, media conference, or rapid fire questions.

The finalists will be made public between Aug. 16-23, followed by interviews by the selectmen in a public session. One to three finalists will go in front of the board.

Once a decision is made, the new chief will be hired between Sept. 15-30.

Chief Ed O’Leary’s final day as the town’s top police officer is Sept. 30.