Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch is among the top three candidates vying to be the next director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The top candidates appeared before a public interview session with the TBI Nominating Commission in Nashville Tuesday morning. Around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, the final three were announced and included Rausch, Tim Gobble, and Jason Locke.
Gobble is the former Bradley County Sheriff. Locke is the current TBI deputy director.
Those three finalists will be considered by Governor Bill Haslam before July 1.
Chief Rausch was the second person to be interviewed Tuesday.
He spoke second this morning to the panel. He had 10 minutes to make his case for the position, followed by 15 minutes of questions from the group of five.
The panel asked Rausch about handling resources, investigating officer-involved shootings, and his relationship with those already in the TBI.
►Read more: KPD Chief Rausch applies for TBI director job
"My reason for wanting to be the ninth director of the TBI is that I have more to give the law enforcement profession and the opportunity to serve the over 6 million residents of Tennessee at this level would be an honor," he said.
Two more local officials also interviewed for the position: Edward Reinhold, former Special Agent in Charge of Knoxville's FBI office, and Danny Wright, a former Rockwood Police Chief and TBI agent and now a professor at Roane State is on the list.
Also on the list were former Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble and David Jolley, the recently appointed U.S. Marshal for East Tennessee.
Assistant TBI director Richard Moore was also heard by the commission.
Chief serves at mayor's pleasure
Rausch was promoted from within the Knoxville Police Department in 2011 by Mayor Dan Brown, who replaced Bill Haslam when Haslam became governor.
The police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor. It would fall to Madeline Rogero, whose term ends next year, to pick someone to replace Rausch if he ends up becoming the TBI director.
Rausch replaced Sterling Owen, a former FBI agent with Knoxville ties who was chief about seven years. Haslam had hired Owen after a national search.
Owen, in turn, became chief in 2004 after the retirement of longtime leader Phil Keith.
Other TBI candidates
Rounding out the top ten candidates are Marjorie Quin, an assistant professor at Cumberland University in Lebanon and former TBI agent; and Jerry Kitchen, the assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis.
Genevieve May, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana, was part of the top 10 candidates, but has dropped out of the running.