New Bedford Mayor Names Screening Committee for Next Police Chief

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — As New Bedford seeks its next police chief to replace the retiring Paul Oliveira, Mayor Jon Mitchell had previously said he planned on putting together a screening committee to “cast a wide net” to find the city’s next top cop.

Today, Mitchell announced who will be on that screening committee, and what the committee’s role will be in choosing the next chief.

Oliveira is slated to retire one month from today, on May 3, 2025.

How New Bedford’s Next Police Chief Will Be Hired

According to the City, the position will be posted next week on the City website, and then it will be placed “with national law enforcement organizations to cast the broadest net for the most highly qualified internal and external candidates.”

The 10-person screening committee will then select the most qualified candidates for interviews, and then the highest rated candidates from those interviews will go on to Mayor Mitchell for final interviews. Mitchell will then make the ultimate decision on who will be the next police chief.

“New Bedford deserves a police chief who can establish an organizational culture that will enable our officers to sustain the recent improvements in public safety and command the trust of our City’s residents,” Mayor Mitchell said. “This is an exciting opportunity for an aspiring law enforcement leader to make a major difference in a city that is on the rise.”

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How Much Will the New Police Chief Make?

Oliveira signed a three-year contract extension last summer that was paying him $209,00 for 2025 and would have paid $219,000 in 2026.

However, the City said in a release that the salary for the next chief “will be commensurate with cities similarly situated with New Bedford” and that the new chief “will be required to live in the city within a reasonable period after starting the job.”

The Screening Committee Members for New Bedford’s Next Police Chief

Two current city councilors are on the 10-person screening committee: Councilor at Large Brian Gomes, who chairs the council’s Committee on Public Safety and Neighborhoods, and Ward 3 Councilor Shawn Oliver, who works as a correctional officer and a constable.

Community members such as Margarita Graham, the President of Reliable Bus Company; Renee Ledbetter, President of the New Bedford Chapter of the NAACP; and Celeine Saraiva, President of the Clark’s Point Neighborhood Association are also on the committee.

Joining them are retired Massachusetts State Police trooper and former New Bedford police officer David Reis; Christopher Bator, retired Assistant United States Attorney, District of Massachusetts; the Honorable Philip Rapoza, retired Chief Justice, Massachusetts Court of Appeals; and Robert Wasserman, former Chief of Staff of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Acting Commissioner of the United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia, and senior executive and advisor in the Boston, Dayton, New York and Houston police departments.

Also on the screening committee is Kathleen O’Toole, former Secretary, Massachusetts Exec. Office of Public Safety, Boston Police Commissioner, Seattle Police Chief, and Chief Inspector of the Garda Siochana Inspectorate of Ireland.

O’Toole is also part of the 21st Century Policing Solutions, the firm the City of New Bedford just hired to investigate the claims made in the Boston Globe’s Spotlight series “Snitch City,” which suggest that Oliveira broke the law while working as a narcotics officer and internal affairs investigator.