Police Chief in Running for Top Job in Austin

Police Chief Stan Knee is among eight candidates being considered to lead the Austin police force, according to officials in that Texas city.

The 24-year veteran of the Garden Grove force is among the candidates in the national search to select the top cop for the central Texas city of 466,000 residents, according to a memo Wednesday from Austin City Manager Jesus Garza.

The field of candidates will be narrowed to three finalists in upcoming weeks, and the Austin City Council will be presented with a final recommendation by late July, Garza wrote in the memo to city leaders.

Knee could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.

A graduate of Cal State Long Beach, Knee spent 19 years climbing through the ranks of the Garden Grove police department before accepting the job of chief in National City in December 1988. In 1992, he returned to Garden Grove, succeeding John R. Robertson as chief.

Knee has been hailed by peers and his employees as a leader in the philosophy of community policing, which emphasizes communication with the public and partnerships with citizen groups to devise lasting solutions to crime.

Garden Grove has a ratio of one police officer for every 1,000 citizens, the lowest staffing ratio among U.S. cities of more than 100,000 residents, according to Knee’s resume. Despite those staffing woes, the city has seen its crime rate sink more than 40% during Knee’s tenure.

Knee, a Vietnam War veteran, has four children, among them a daughter who is a police officer in Orange.