BYE! You. NBC 7 news. Midday
starts now. The safety of our
residents. The safety of our
businesses and the safety of our
visitors is the top priority of
city government. And is
certainly the top priority of my
administration. It is in that
vein that I recognize that there
is perhaps no greater decision I
make as mayor than who will be
our chief of police. After multiple community forums and an
extensive national search, San
Diego’s Mayor Todd Gloria
announcing his appointment to
replace Chief David Nisleit, who
is retiring come June. Good
morning everybody. Thanks for
joining us this midday. I’m
Marianne Kushi. Will the process
to find our next police chief
officially began last November,
after Chief David Nisleit
announced his retirement. Well,
now we know who the top
candidate is. Our NBC 7’s Joey
Safchik is live at police
headquarters downtown with the announcement from city leaders
today, Joey. Yeah, that months
long nationwide search led right
back here, home to San Diego.
The mayor has tapped Assistant
Chief of Police Scott Wahl to be
the new top cop. Wahl has 25
years of experience here on the
force, and he said that doing
this job is all he’s ever wanted
to do. Now, the mayor says they
interviewed 56 candidates, many
of whom were entirely qualified.
But he said that Wall’s priorities are really the
direction that he wants the city
to go in those priorities. By
the way, are establishing trust,
developing leadership within the
force and looking towards the future, developing the force for
years to come. And of course,
we’ll have to deal with
unprecedented turnover. Those
are his words in the next couple
of years on an already short staffed police force. Here’s
what he said this morning. I
love this city and I love this
police department. I am here
because I want to make a
difference in our community. I
am here because I want to make a
difference in the lives of the
men and women who come to work each and every day to protect
and serve all of you. Wahl says
he’ll engage with the community
over the next couple of weeks as
the confirmation process is
ongoing. He, of course, needs to