Post Falls Police Chief Search Hits Month Six Amid Interim Leader's Leave

Jason Mealer took command of the Post Falls Police Department in October after Chief Greg McLean closed out a 36-year career. Five months later, multiple sources inside and close to the department said Mealer was placed on administrative leave, a development city officials declined to confirm publicly.

Deputy City Administrator Warren Wilson said the city could not address personnel matters, citing confidentiality, but offered a broad assessment of where the permanent search stood. "We'll have a better idea of where we're going to end up and where the council wants to go," Wilson told reporters.

McLean retired October 18, 2025, ending a career that began in 1989 when he joined as an animal control officer. He eventually launched the motorcycle patrol unit in the mid-1990s to address new traffic demands brought by rapid growth, rising through every major rank before becoming chief. A 2011 graduate of the FBI National Academy, he also held a criminal justice degree from North Idaho College.

Mealer brought comparable depth to the interim role. He started as a dispatcher with the Idaho County Sheriff's Office in 1999, moved to patrol the following year, and later spent multiple years in Iraq and Afghanistan training local police in democratic policing principles and tactics. His Post Falls resume included SWAT team commander, field training officer, and dive team member.

With Mealer's status unresolved and the search now in its sixth month, the department's command structure sits in open-ended transition. Wilson offered no specific timeline or benchmarks residents could use to gauge progress, and the direction of the city council's selection process, including whether to modify candidate criteria or expand outreach, remains publicly unresolved.

Post Falls has grown into one of Kootenai County's largest and fastest-developing cities. Decisions about patrol staffing, community policing priorities, and officer retention all flow from the top of a department's command, and each month that position remains vacant, those decisions remain unsettled.