Only two take test for Warren police chief

WARREN — The first woman in the history of the Warren Police Department to make captain will not be Warren’s next police chief, but a female lieutenant who works under her might be.

Acting Chief Tim Bowers and Lt. Cathy Spencer spent two hours Thursday at the building housing the Warren Health Department on Main Avenue Southwest, taking what Spencer called a “very hard” two-hour, 150-question, multiple choice test.

The person who did not take the test was Capt. Janice Gilmore, who became a captain last July after getting the highest score on a similar test.

Gilmore, a third-generation Warren police officer, is the first female captain in the department’s history. She’s a 20-year veteran of the department.

Gilmore said she obtained recommended textbooks earlier this summer and began to study them — but decided she did not want to be police chief right now.

“As time went on, it’s not where I want to be in my life right now,” she said Thursday afternoon. “I’ll reconsider in the future, but right now I’m comfortable where I’m at. I hope I can still affect some positive change within the department and in the community.”

She is captain in command of the department’s patrol officers.

Gilmore arrived at the testing site with Bowers and Spencer but did not stay to take the test.

“She just wished us both luck and walked out,” Spencer said.

Read more in Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com