THE Vancouver Police Board announced on Friday that the search for a new chief constable has begun.

The board at its meeting on Thursday approved the following:

* A three-member search sub-committee has been appointed by the board and will conduct preliminary work associated with a national search. The final interviews and selection will be by the full board, likely sometime in May.

* The board approved the retention of executive search firm Pinton Forrest Madden (PFM). This firm assisted the board in the 2007 search, when Chief Constable Jim Chu was hired, and it recently recruited chiefs for both West Vancouver and Victoria.

* PFM will coordinate a community / stakeholder consultation process for the board to get public feedback on attributes, priorities and expectations of the new chief. This process will involve interviews, facilitated meetings and requests for written feedback.  A confidential email address has been established by PFM to receive feedback. There is a link to it on both the VPD website (VPD.ca) and the Board website (vancouverpoliceboard.ca).  VPD employees are also being asked to provide their input.

* The position posting will be made public on February 26.