Here's what you need to know before Shreveport's mayor announces the new police chief

Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins will announce the city's new police chief Wednesday afternoon.

The search has been a seven-month process. The search began in June after Perkins asked then-Police Chief Ben Raymond to resign.

During the search process, Assistant Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith stepped in as interim chief.

Smith a 40-year servant of the Shreveport Police Department is no stranger to a managerial position, serving more than two decades as a command-level position.

Smith has served as interim chief for seven months and has implemented new initiatives that call on every individual within the police department that has an office job to perform at least some portion of the week on the streets.

Smith said through this initiative an increase in police presence has been seen over his time as interim police chief.

This initiative has only aided in 2021's overall crime report. In the last updated report, the Shreveport Police Department stated that Shreveport was down by 16% for overall crime.

Smith is one of the nine applicants competing for police chief, and through a rigorous civil service process, each candidate has depicted their strengths.

Read: Shreveport Police Department announces police chief applicants: Here's who's on the list

Dorian Brabham, Jason Frazier, Marcus Hines, Michael Jones, Marcus Mitchell, Wayne Smith, Michael Tyler, Kenneth Wall and Samuel Wyatt applied for the job.

The applicant must meet one of the three following qualifications:

• Must have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, police administration, business administration, public administration or other related curriculum. They must have at least eight years of progressively responsible experience in law enforcement, at least two years of which must have been in positions including administrative or supervisory responsibilities. Law enforcement experience should include work in positions that would provide background in patrol operations, criminal investigations, police training and related areas of police department operations and management.

• Must have an associate degree in criminal justice, police administration or other related curriculum, or a bachelor's degree in an unrelated curriculum. They must have at least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in law enforcement positions, at least two years of which must have been in positions including administrative or supervisory responsibilities. Law enforcement experience should include work in positions that would provide background in patrol operations, criminal investigations, police training and related areas of police department operations and management.

• Must have a high school diploma or a valid certificate of equivalency issued by a state department of education. They must have at least 12 years of progressively responsible experience in law enforcement positions, at least four years of which must have been in positions that include administrative or supervisory responsibilities. Law enforcement experience should include work in positions that would provide background in patrol operations, criminal investigations, police training and related areas of police department operations and management.

All nine men met the minimum qualifications and moved on to the next step which was the competitive class exam. This exam took place in December and applicants had to score higher than 75% to pass.

Shreveport Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board released the test scores Jan. 5 for the applicants seeking to be the city's next police chief.

More: Two Shreveport police officers fired following policy violations and indictments

Samuel Wyatt and Marcus Mitchell received the highest scores, while the interim police chief received the third-highest score.

Competitive Class Exam scores:

• Dorian Brabham 86%

• Jason Frazier 87%

• Marcus Hines 80%

• Michael Jones 86%

• Marcus Mitchell 92%

• Wayne Smith 89%

• Michael Tyler 84%

• Kenneth Wall 83%

• Samuel Wyatt 94%

Perkins will announce one of these candidates to be the next police chief Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Shreveport Police Department police chief here's what you need to know