The Police and Fire Commission met last night and made it official that Vic Wahl will be the acting police chief while they go through their process. Here’s their statement and audio of Wahl’s testimony. He will not run for the permanent chief position because he doesn’t want to move to Madison.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
Public Statement on behalf of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners
Rule 2(c) of the Rules of the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners of the City of Madison
provides that “if a vacancy in the position of Chief occurs, the Board shall promptly designate a Department officer to act as Chief during the pendency of the appointment process.” Michael C. Koval retired as Chief of the Madison Police Department effective September 30, 2019. Assistant Chief of Police Vic Wahl is currently serving as the Acting Chief of Police under established Department procedures and duty assignments.
Pursuant to Board Rule 2(c) and Wisconsin law, at the Board meeting on October 14, 2019, the Board designated Assistant Chief Vic Wahl as the Department officer who is temporarily authorized to act as Chief of Police until such time as the Board makes a permanent appointment to the Chief of Police position.
Assistant Chief Wahl has significant experience with the Madison Police Department, having joined the Department in 1991, and having served in a variety of assignments. Assistant Chief Wahl served as a Captain of Police from May 2008 to December 2016, and has been an Assistant Chief with the Department since January of 2017. Assistant Chief Wahl has an undergraduate degree and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Assistant Chief John Patterson and Assistant Chief Paige Valenta communicated their support for Assistant Chief Wahl serving in the role of Acting Chief of Police.
Commissioners will now be undertaking the process to appoint Chief Koval’s successor. The Board will announce its recruitment, testing, and evaluation plans in the near future. As part of the process, the Board anticipates that it will actively seek comment regarding the needs of the City and the Madison Police Department from members of the public, government officials, academic and professional experts, and members of the Madison Police Department. The Board anticipates that it will hold several public listening sessions, and that it will also receive written comments. Further information will be provided once it is available.
AUDIO
This is the audio of the open session discussion with now Acting Police Chief Vic Wahl. The entire 18 minutes! They deliberated about a half hour in closed session as well.
I did brief highlights of the meeting on Facebook as it happened.
