For the second time in less than a year, the community welcomes a new police chief, this time for College Station. Michael Ikner, an assistant police chief in Arlington, will begin his duties on June 2.

The 44-year-old joins Bryan Police Chief Ty Morrow, who started his duties in September and is settling in nicely with the Bryan department.

We welcome Chief Ikner and look forward to his tenure in College Station. Already Chief Morrow has said he wants to work with the new College Station chief to make law-enforcement relations between the two cities even better than they already are.

Ikner brings a wealth of experience to his new job. He served two years in the U.S. Air Force, providing security to top people in far-flung places. Immediately after being honorably discharged, Ikner joined the Arlington Police Department, where he climbed through the ranks to assistant chief, briefly serving as interim chief in 2006 and 2007.

College Station had five excellent candidates for chief, and those making the selection were convinced by Ikner's experience and enthusiasm that he is the person for the city's top law enforcement post.

Like his Bryan counterpart, Ikner plans to be very visible in the community, and he expects all his officers to be visible, too.

As we welcome the new chief, we also say good-bye to interim Chief Bobby Whitmire, who has done a fine job leading the department during the search for the new chief. He filled a similar role during Bryan's search that culminated in the hiring of Chief Morrow. We thank Whitmire for his service to both departments.

Ikner said he has visited the community numerous times over the years, for both professional and family reasons. He said he likes it here and wanted to become a part of the community.

We like it here -- a lot -- and we're glad he does, too. Best wishes to Michael Ikner as he settled into the community and his new job.

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