Pennington named to New Orleans police chief search committee

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Former Atlanta and New Orleans  Police Chief Richard Pennington will help select the Crescent City's next police chief, according to New Orleans officials.

Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu has named Pennington among more than two dozen members of the New Orleans Police Department task force charged with conducting a nationwide search for a police chief, according to a statement from Landrieu's transition team

Pennington was named as one of the task force "national technical advisors" that includes New York City police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, security consultant and former L.A. police chief Bill Bratton, and Houston's former police chief and mayor Lee Brown.

"We are confident that these experts, who have dealt with many of the challenges we face today, will provide the technical advice and resources needed to recruit and recommend the best candidates for the job," task force c0-chair and Xavier University president Norman Francis.

Pennington could not be reached Thursday night for comment.

Pennington stepped down as Atlanta's police chief in December after a stormy eight-year tenure marred by one particular controversy.

In 2006, three Atlanta narcotics officers shot and killed 92-year-old Katherine Johnston after lying to obtain a search warrant of her southwest Atlanta home.

Following other high-profile crimes, like the shooting deaths of last year of Cabbagetown bartender John Henderson, pro boxer Vernon Forrest and Spelman sophomore Jasmine Lynn, Pennington was accused by some as being aloof and unavailable.

In New Orleans, however, Pennington served from 1994 to 2002 as police chief and was lauded for cleaning up a corrupt police department.

His efforts nearly got him elected as mayor, and he lost by a narrow margin in 2002 to Ray Nagin.

A spokesman for Landrieu's transition team said Pennington won't be paid to help with the New Orleans search, and will serve until a candidate is selected in time for the new mayor's inauguration on May 3.