A day after St. Petersburg, Fl., Mayor Rick Kriseman interviewed his top four candidates for police chief last month and introduced them to the community in a public meet-and-greet, he got on a plane to Dallas. He was unsettled, unconvinced that any was the right fit, says the Tampa Bay Times. At a conference that weekend, Kriseman sought advice from other mayors. They all had the same message: Don’t settle. Don’t be afraid to scrap the list.
Over the next several days, Kriseman put out feelers for chiefs he might want to recruit. One, it turned out, was close to home: Clearwater, Fl., Police Chief Anthony “Tony” Holloway. Kriseman cold called him, and liked him immediately. Two weeks later, they met at a diner outside both their cities. Kriseman said he asked Holloway the same questions he’d asked the others. This time, he liked everything he heard. “I came away very impressed and convinced this was the guy,” Kriseman said yesterday, a few hours after officially announcing Holloway as the new chief. “The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was.” Praise poured in for Holloway, 52.