Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission votes to change process for selecting next police chief

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Fire and Police Commission voted 4-3 Tuesday to amend the process for selecting the next police chief, mainly how interviews would be conducted for the six finalists. 

In September, Chairman Nelson Soler laid how the process for selecting the next chief after the Fire and Police Commission demoted former Chief Alfonso Morales. 

"The top five candidates will be called for an interview by the board. That interview will be public in structure," he said. 

Last week, the commission met to discuss amending that process so the interviews for the six candidates would be in private. 

After some heated exchanges during a meeting on Friday, Oct. 9,  the Fire and Police Commission met Tuesday to vote on the next steps. 

"I am of the frame of mind that we do public," said Commissioner Angela McKenzie. 

"I want the commissioners to have the first crack. There might be sensitive topics, things of sensitive nature we might need to discuss in private and talk to them individually," said Commissioner Steven DeVougas. 

In the end, four voted to amend the process. The six finalists will be interviewed in private. The commissioners will then select three finalists. Those finalists will then be interviewed in a public format. The commission will then narrow the choice down to one. 

It's unclear when the six finalists will be interviewed by the Fire and Police Commission.