Las Vegas assistant sheriff among candidates for police chief in Texas

One of three Metropolitan Police Department assistant sheriffs is a finalist for a police chief position in Texas, officials announced Wednesday.

Assistant Sheriff Chris Jones is among six finalists for the position with the Fort Worth Police Department, according to the Texas city’s website. Jones was promoted to assistant sheriff in February and currently oversees the Metro’s professional standards division, detention services division, internal affairs bureau and office of labor relations, according to Metro’s website.

Jones has been employed with Metro for 27 years, and started as a corrections officer at the Clark County Detention Center. He was promoted to sergeant in 2001, lieutenant in 2006 and captain in 2010.

As captain, he was in charge of the northwest area command, the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Center, and the organized crime, robbery and homicide, and personnel bureaus. He became deputy chief in 2016, and took command of the community policing division in 2018, according to the department’s website.

Metro did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday afternoon.

All of the other finalists are currently employed with Texas police departments. They are Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Wendy Baimbridge, Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Troy Gay, Carrollton Police Chief Derick Miller, Fort Worth Police Department Deputy Chief Neil Noakes, and Fort Worth Police Department Assistant Chief Julie Swearingin.

The city of Fort Worth selected the finalists from 50 applicants after Chief Ed Kraus retired from the department earlier this year, according to the city’s website.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knebwerg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.