College Station's police chief finalists are among the leading law enforcement professionals in the state, according to those who have worked side by side with the candidates.
City administrators conducted interviews Thursday and Friday with Steve Dye, assistant chief in Garland; Michael Gentry, chief of Harker Heights; Michael Ikner, assistant chief of Arlington; Diana Kirk, chief of staff in El Paso; and Bobby Whitmire, College Station's interim chief.
City Manager Glenn Brown is expected to name a new chief within the next couple of weeks.
The new top cop will replace Michael Clancey, who left College Station in October after serving three years. The police chief will earn a salary up to $129,200, plus benefits.
College Station has a population of more than 87,000 and a police department with 160 employees.
Bobby Whitmire
Interim College Station Police Chief Bobby Whitmire has served as top cop in Midlothian and Waxahachie. His most recent job was a seven-month stint as interim chief in Bryan.
He has received high praise from Bryan City Manager David Watkins, who said he would have considered hiring Whitmire if he hadn't found Ty Morrow.
Morrow was named Bryan's police chief in September.
"I want some of the attributes Chief Whitmire has in my final pick," Watkins said last summer while Bryan was in the midst of a national search for a permanent chief. "He's a policeman who really gets out with the troops, gets out in the community. He's very visible. The troops like Bobby because he wears a uniform. He shows up at major incidents. He's decisive, and he exudes leadership."
Bryan police officers declined last week to comment on Whitmire, saying they wished to show support for whoever is selected as College Station's next chief.
The Bryan city manager, however, has said the rank-and-file police officers were "strong supporters" of Whitmire during his time as interim chief.
"I can't imagine how I would have survived my first year here without Whitmire," Watkins said in a November interview with The Eagle. "I think he set up the police department nicely for [Morrow] to come in."
Watkins' recommendation was part of the reason College Station City Manager Brown hired Whitmire as interim chief, Brown has said. Whitmire has served in the role since November.
Diana Kirk
Diana Kirk has been with the El Paso Police Department since 1985 and became chief of staff about three years ago.
The El Paso department has more than 1,100 sworn officers and more than 300 civilian employees. The city is known as the third-safest municipality in the U.S. with a population greater than 500,000, according to Kirk's resume.
El Paso police Commander Scott Graves has known Kirk for about 23 years and said he'd work for her "any day of the week."
"She's a strong leader and would absolutely make a great chief," he said. "She is very hard-working, probably the hardest-working police officer I've ever known."
Kirk recently was named among the finalists for El Paso police chief, but the nod went to Gregory Allen, who had been serving as interim chief.
Over the past two decades, Graves said, Kirk has been his supervisor on a couple of different occasions.
"She gets things done," he said. "That's one of the things I like about her. She lets those below her do what they're supposed to do."
Kirk is a native of El Paso who "effectively communicates" in Spanish, although she stops short of calling herself bilingual. She was the first female chief of staff and assistant chief in the history of the El Paso Police Department.
"If they don't select her, they're losing an awful good chief," Graves said.
Michael Gentry
Michael Gentry has had a 30-year law enforcement career and has served as chief of the Harker Heights Police Department for the past 13 years.
The man who hired him, City Manager Steve Carpenter, said he's proud that Gentry is among the elite applicants being interviewed for College Station's chief post.
"He's a real quality person," Carpenter said. "He's just really solid. He makes friends easily, and they remain loyal to him. As police chief, he's a true leader. He came in and took a mediocre department and made it into an excellent one."
Harker Heights has a population of about 27,000 and a strong military contingent because of its proximity to Fort Hood.
Gentry helped start the Harker Heights Citizens Police Academy and is active in several community organizations, Carpenter said. The police chief also implemented aggressive enforcement programs to target "traditionally ignored illegal activities" such as adult bookstores, escort services and live-performance adult cabarets, according to his resume.
"Mike is a problem solver," Carpenter said. "He sees a problem or a challenge and makes it an opportunity. I'd hate to lose him. He's raised the standards that we have in the city and in the police department. He's very well-respected in the community."
Michael Ikner
Michael Ikner started working for the Arlington Police Department about 23 years ago. Theron Bowman, now the city's police chief, also was starting his career with the department around that time.
"I've known Mike essentially his entire police career," Bowman said Friday. "He's just an outstanding professional. He's result-oriented, extremely dependable and visionary."
Ikner also is a "very personable guy," Bowman said.
"He has one of the greatest senses of humor of anyone I've ever met," he said. "People are drawn to him because he's so likable."
At a public forum for College Station police chief finalists Thursday, Ikner showed his sense of humor by telling a throng of photographers from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association that he "felt like Barack and Hillary" going before the media.
Arlington is a community of more than 360,000 people -- the seventh-largest city in Texas. Ikner is the only commander in the history of the Arlington Police Department to have personnel from his division selected for Rookie of the Year, Officer of the Year and Supervisor of the Year awards in the same year.
"He'll make an outstanding chief of police wherever he goes," Bowman said. "He has the capability of running an organization from 50 people to 5,000 people. He has all the tools required to be a stellar candidate for chief."
Steve Dye
Steve Dye has had a 24-year law enforcement career and has been with the Garland Police Department since 1996.
When Dye was promoted to assistant chief in mid-2004, Chief Mitch Bates called him a man of integrity with a strong work ethic.
"[He] developed significant positive working relationships with members of the department and within the community," Bates said in a public statement. "I believe [he has] the leadership skills needed to assist myself and the other members of the police management team in leading this department into the future."
Bates could not be reached for comment Friday.
Garland has a population of about 223,000. Its police department employs about 328 sworn officers and 138 civilians.
Dye oversees the police department's criminal investigations division, along with the narcotics, gang violence and specialized crime units. The bilingual assistant chief also acts as a media liaison, helping the department's public information office in coordinating interviews and preparing news releases for the Spanish-speaking media.
Officer Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, said he's known Dye for more than a decade.
"He's outgoing, a good family man," Harn said. "He's very thorough in his work. He's a good police officer. He's someone we'll hate to lose."
• April Avison's e-mail address is april.avison@theeagle.com.
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