The City of Hot Springs released today the names of the five finalists for the position of police chief for the City of Hot Springs, Arkansas. They are Amy Barlow of Morton, Mississippi; Philip Dupuis of Montgomery, Texas; Jeffrey Fitzpatrick of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Steven Sharron of Tyler, Texas; and Jason Stachey of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
For the past two years, Amy Barlow has served as deputy chief of major investigations for the Jackson Police Department in Jackson, Mississippi, population 173,000. In that capacity, she manages 70 sworn and 10 civilian personnel, including upper- and middle-level managers, reporting to the assistant chief of police. A 24-year veteran, she has served at every supervisory level in the department since being promoted to sergeant in 1999. Her experience includes supervision of criminal investigations, narcotics investigations and patrol. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, an associate degree from Hinds Community College in Pearl, Mississippi and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy as well as the Women’s Leadership Institute of the International Chiefs of Police Association.
Philip Dupuis currently serves as the chief of police for the City of Conroe, Texas, estimated population 73,000. His 32-year law enforcement career includes 13 years of command experience. He manages a staff of 160 personnel and a $15.6 million operating budget, including an animal control division. Dupuis holds a bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He received more than 3,200 hours of training from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) in the following areas: master peace officer, instructor, firearms instructor, law enforcement administration, legal issues for command, leadership and management Training, Stress Management for Law Enforcement, Interview & Interrogation, Forensic Science, and Planning, Designing & Constructing Police Facilities. He is a board member of the Texas Police Chiefs Association and a member of various other professional and community associations.
As chief deputy of the sheriff’s office for Saline County, population 114,000, Jeffrey Fitzpatrick supervises five divisions and 124 employees, including a 243-bed detention facility. He holds more than 31 years of law enforcement experience. On January 10, 2015, he retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a senior executive. DEA assignments over his 27-year tenure included San Francisco and San Diego, California; Arlington, Virginia; Las Vegas, Nevada; Kabul, Afghanistan; Islamabad, Pakistan; Sao Paulo and Brasilia, Brazil; and Little Rock, Arkansas. Key domestic and foreign supervisory positions included serving as Deputy Chief of Global Operations at DEA Headquarters in Arlington, where he managed a staff of more than 100 employees, including 20 senior management liaison officers assigned to interagency partners, and a budget of more than $29 million. He served as section chief of domestic operations in Arlington, overseeing operations in Mexico and Central America; and as deputy regional director at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where he directed high-risk counter narcotics missions and supervised 538 Afghan police officers who were trained to operate in the most volatile and dangerous areas of Afghanistan. He began his law enforcement career as a police officer in Wilmington, North Carolina. Fitzpatrick holds a bachelor’s degree from Oswego State University, Oswego, New York and an associate degree from Cayuga Community College. He is a graduate of the FBI/DEA Training Academy.
Steven Sharron, a 29-year veteran of the Tyler, Texas Police Department, has served the last 15 years as assistant chief. In that capacity, he has directly supervised both the patrol and the investigative divisions. Tyler, population 108,000, has a department of 194 sworn officers and 59 civilian personnel. Sharron holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Tyler, a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. A master police officer and certified instructor for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE), Sharron holds extensive tactical experience in SWAT command. Key accomplishments at Tyler include redirecting recruiting efforts to increase department diversity; encouraging officer innovation for problem-solving within their beats; expanding the Neighborhood Watch Program; and receiving multiple commendations for leading incident command during highly volatile events without further loss of life to civilians or officers.
Jason Stachey, a Hot Springs native, holds a bachelors’ degree from Sam Houston State University and a master’s degree from Columbia Southern University. He received additional training in supervision and training from University of Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute and the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas, and is a certified law enforcement instructor from the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training. Stachey has served 19 years with the police department in the City of Hot Springs, population 36,000, leading to his appointment as interim police chief in December 2015. He is responsible for the department’s recent accreditation through the Arkansas Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, the first law enforcement agency in the state to do so. He researched, developed and published 188 individual policies and directives that met or exceeded ALEAP’s best practices criteria and currently serves ALEAP by evaluating other agencies aspiring to achieve accredited status. Stachey developed the department’s $12 million annual budget and prepared grants totaling $5 million in funding. He currently co-chairs the four-county Child Abduction Response Team and has extensive experience in SWAT team leadership, crisis negotiation and administrative investigation. Stachey introduced and implemented procedural justice training for all sworn personnel; developed the curriculum for the Citizens Police Academy; and instituted a crime prevention program for businesses and neighborhoods.
Following the selection of 15 of the most qualified applicants by the Civil Service Commission, the five finalists were chosen by an executive group of senior city staff for consideration by the city manager. On Monday, the finalists will be interviewed by a professional panel composed of law enforcement leaders from multiple jurisdictions and the Civil Service Commission chair. They will also meet with a panel of community leaders and tour the Hot Springs Police Department. From 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., a public reception will be held in Rooms 203-204 at the Hot Springs Convention Center for the Board of Directors and area residents to visit with the candidates. On Tuesday, the executive group will give the candidates a final round of interviews before the city manager’s final decision is made and a job offer extended.