Bellamy: Haven't decided yet whether to apply for chief's job
Tim Bellamy, Greensboro's interim police chief, was out of town last week and unavailable for comment, but he just returned my call a few minutes ago. I had wanted to ask him if he will apply for the permament job.
"I haven't mind up my mind about that yet," he said.
City Manager Mitchell Johnson Friday presented a timetable for the police chief search process that calls for extending an offer to the top candidate by next March.
By that time, Bellamy will have been interim chief for about 14 months.
The normal tenure for an interim is about six months, he noted.
He added that normally an interim fills in after a chief retires or moves on to another job. David Wray resigned under pressure.
Bellamy told me he's enjoying the job except for dealing with "all these issues." He's led an administrative investigation of problems inherited from the Wray administration -- among them the famous black book, tapings, "secret police" activities and complaints of discriminatory treatment.
The department has its problems and challenges, he said, but officers and doing their jobs and solving crimes. The feedback he hears makes him think most would like for him to get the chief's job, he said.
It looks like we won't know for quite some time. In the meanwhile, Bellamy said, Johnson has told him to run the department as if he is the chief, not just an interim.