Tonight after three hours of debate, the months-long police chief search was narrowed down to a slate of three candidates for Mayor Mike McGinn to choose from: Seattle Interim Chief Diaz, Rick Braziel of Sacramento, and Ronald Davis of East Palo Alto.

As I mentioned last week, Braziel wrote the book on effective neighborhood policing, COP Talk: Essential Communication Skills for Community Policing and Davis helped reduce his city's homicide rate by 29 percent by helping design a prison parolee reentry program. Seattle residents should be pleased with these candidates' records of community outreach and policing. Meanwhile, Diaz,"clearly has the most experience" in Seattle, said Kate Joncas co-chair of the Police Chief Search Committee. "Overall, the mayor is getting a very qualified slate," Joncas added.

The committee voted 20-3 in favor of the three candidates, following a day's worth of interviews and three hours of discussion on the nine semi-finalists.

Tina Bueche, a Pioneer Square community member, cast one of three votes against the slate, citing a slight difference in priorities when it came to the candidates. She wouldn't mention what those priorities were or which candidates she favored.

Mayor McGinn is expected to announce his police chief pick sometime after June 2.