By Khalida Sarwari and Jeff Shuttleworth
San Jose City Manager Debra Figone will publicly announce her choice for the city’s new police chief on Tuesday, a spokesman for the city manager’s office said today.
Figone has reportedly selected San Jose’s acting police Chief Chris Moore over Oakland police Chief Anthony Batts to replace Rob Davis who retired at the end of October.
Figone’s spokesman Tom Manheim would not confirm her decision, but said he was “not contesting the accuracy” of media reports claiming that she has selected Moore over Batts.
Figone made her decision on Wednesday and is expected to make a public announcement this Tuesday after the City Council meets in closed session to approve the decision, Manheim said.
Batts announced Thursday that he will not become the chief of police in San Jose. He said he will stay in Oakland for now, but he didn’t commit to staying with the city for the long term.
Batts, who is in the second year of a three-year contract with the Oakland Police Department, applied for the San Jose job in October but didn’t tell Oakland officials about it until several weeks ago.
Thursday’s statement by Batts didn’t specify if he decided not to pursue the San Jose job anymore or if San Jose officials chose Moore over him.
The statement said Batts “wishes his good friend and colleague, newly appointed Police Chief Chris Moore, the best of luck.”