OMAHA- Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has announced that Deputy Chief Scott Gray will lead the department when he is unavailable.

After interviewing several candidates, Schmaderer selected Gray to be his executive deputy chief. Gray is a 25-year veteran of the department who was promoted to deputy chief in 2017. Gray will begin his role as executive deputy chief immediately, the department said.

Gray currently oversees the Uniform Patrol Bureau, the largest division of the department with nearly 550 officers.

Lt. Neal Bonacci, a police department spokesman, said the executive deputy chief will supervise large-scale events, mentor new deputy chiefs, help out with all five bureaus in the department, review personnel matters, oversee projects that pertain to more than one bureau and approve some items that would need a chief’s approval “so decisions can be made in a more timely manner.”

“The chief of police will always carry the heavy responsibilities and spearhead the overall cultivation of direction/culture of the department,” Bonacci said in a prepared statement. “Chief Schmaderer feels a designated second in command will help him do that.”

Schmaderer has said some police departments in other cities have a designated No. 2 and others don’t.

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