Yellow Springs police chief candidates list narrows

Two candidates being considered to fill the police chief vacancy in Yellow Springs are scheduled to be interviewed Friday, according to a village official.

The two candidates are Brian Carlson and David Pazynski, according to a release from Yellow Springs Village Manager Patti Bates.

The village launched a search for a new chief two weeks ago after former Police Chief Dave Hale resigned abruptly following community outrage over the police department’s handling of New Year’s Eve revelers. Hale joined the department in 2014 as interim chief and was named permanent chief in 2015.

Officer Carlson is an internal candidate who has been with the Yellow Springs Police Department since December of 2010, when he was hired full-time, according to Bates. In 2014 he was assigned as a detective with the ACE Task Force, but resigned as full-time officer two months later and began serving the village part-time. Carlson is a former business owner and attended Western Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati, Bates said in the release.

Pazynski previously served as a captain with the Xenia Police Department, where he retired in April, 2014. He served, at various times, as road patrol captain and administrative captain. Pazynski has a bachelor's degree in criminal psychology from Capital University in Columbus and has attended the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command, according to Bates.

On Tuesday night at the council meeting,

the community also heard from the village’s Justice System Task Force, which has been asked to examine law enforcement agencies across all levels, including national, as well as working with leaders on the police chief search.

“We have a justice system, starting at the federal level, and going down to the state of Ohio Attorney General level, and all the way down, that is in need of reform,” said Yellow Springs Justice System Task Force Coordinator Pat Dewees.

Bates is acting police chief, until a new chief can be chosen and sworn in.

Village officials also are investigating the New Year’s incident and a report is not expected to be complete until mid-February.

One officer was injured at the village's New Year’s Eve Ball Drop celebration.

As revelers were wrapping up the village’s annual New Year’s Eve Ball Drop celebration, police, whom Hale said were on a “routine patrol,” drove through the crowd in an effort to disperse patrons, using their horns and sirens.

Police and at least one man became involved in an altercation.

Village officials have hired an attorney to investigate the incident.