With the investigation into the Halloween night murder of officer Timothy Brenton stretching into its sixth day, the Seattle Police Department is about to lose its newly appointed head of the Violent Crimes Section. Berkeley news sources are reporting that Seattle police captain Mike Meehan has been tabbed as the new police chief in the California city. According to the Berkeley Daily Planet, Meehan’s appointment must still be confirmed by the Berkeley city council at its November 10th meeting.

Meehan, a former East Precinct commander, recently moved to take over Violent Crimes where he oversaw the Homicide, Robbery, CSI, Gang, Polygraph, Bias Crimes and Fugitive Units after a stint working in the Narcotics Section. He is a 23-year veteran officer according to this SPD blog post.

The Berkeley Planet story linked above also dug into the CHS archives for some insight into Meehan:

Comments on a Feb. 2009 blog catering to Seattle’s Capital Hill area [sic], a pre-dominantly gay neighborhood, discussed the possibility of Meehan replacing then–Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, who was selected by the Obama administration to be the “drug czar,” overseeing the country’s drug-control policy.

“I would be overjoyed to see another ex-East Precinct Commander (Mike Meehan) as the Seattle Police Chief, but suspect he’ll have to work his way up the ranks a bit first,” said Andrew Taylor, a writer on the blog. “He’s very smart, thoughtful and good with the public. And he’s very tall!”

Meehan also made it into our recent history of East Precinct bosses where the then-commander was quoted as having said this in 2004:

“I say this laughingly, but I told my boss that my intention is to stay here until the day I retire. I’ll stay here as long as they allow me to stay. I am very happy to be at the East Precinct.”

Meehan left the EP commander role in 2006.