The City of Canton announced Monday it has a new police chief, Florida lawman Robert C. Merchant, brought in to restore the reputation and revive the morale of a department still trying to recover from its mishandling of the investigation into the abduction and killing of 7-year-old Jorelys Rivera last December.
Merchant, 56, is the retired chief of the Altamonte Springs, Fla. police department, roughly twice the size of Canton’s, which has about 43 uniformed officers. He starts the first week of June, at a salary of $94,500, City Manager Scott Wood said at a Monday morning press conference.
He will replace Todd VandeZande, interim chief since chief Jeff Lance was forced to resign last January after an outside audit found he and his department mishandled the first few hours of the search and investigation when Rivera was reported missing Dec. 2 from a playground at the River Ridge at Canton apartment complex.
Rivera's body was found three days later, discarded in a trash compactor a few hundred yards from where she was last seen. The audit determined Canton Police could not have saved her life if they had acted faster, but their procedures were so flawed they could cost a life next time.
Apartment maintenance man Ryan Brunn was arrested two days after her body was discovered. He pleaded guilty to Rivera's murder and committed suicide in prison the same week Chief Lance was forced to resign.
In recent weeks, some city council members have lobbied Wood to make VandeZande, who was deputy under Lance, permanent chief. Wood and a panel of advisers considered 43 applicants and interviewed 8, including VandeZande. He said Monday he didn't feel obligated to either go outside the department, or promote from within.
"I just wanted to hire the best candidate," said Wood. Merchant was the perfect fit, in terms of experience (he was chief of the Altamonte Police Department for 9 years), education, and other qualifications needed to lead the department in a new direction, said Wood, who last week informed the city council of his decision.
Merchant met informally with about 30 members of the Canton Police department Monday morning, before the press conference. He said he's made no decisions about staffing or changes in department policy until he joins the force and learns his way around the department, and the city.
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