Portland’s new city manager, Mark Rees, has a lot to do as he starts work this summer, but there’s one item he can knock off his list right away.

Portland doesn’t need to have another national search for a new police chief. Rees can save himself some headaches and save the taxpayers some money by deciding to fill the position in-house.

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There is a good argument to be made that the city does not need an outsider to run the department. Press Herald file photo

The job is open because the last chief, James Craig, left after two years on the job to run the police department of Cincinnati, Ohio. Craig was chosen after a national search. He replaced former Police Chief Tim Burton, who left after three years on the job. He had been an in-house candidate, but he was also selected following a national search.

The city does not need to go through that time-consuming process again. If Rees wants to know what the community was looking for in a chief, there should be plenty of information available to him from the last two times Portland went through this exercise.

And even before the process begins, there is a good argument to be made that the city does not need an outsider to run the department. Craig was very aggressive in his effort to shake up the way things are done by Portland’s police.

He brought in new priorities and new methods to measure effectiveness. Craig reorganized the command team, promoting officers to a variety of important supervisory roles. The Portland P.D. does not need another shake-up. What it needs is a chance to give Craig’s programs a chance to work.

It doesn’t make sense to waste valuable city resources, not the least of which would be the new city manager’s time, looking at candidates from outside the city. There are more than enough good choices here already.

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