Published Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:09 AM
Hopefuls line up for Bryan chief's job
By MICHELLE CASADY
michelle.casady@theeagle.com
Some 23 peace officers have applied to become Bryan's next police chief.
City Manager David Watkins said the city received more applications than he expected.
"I heard there were even some people who applied from outside of Texas," he said, adding that he hadn't gotten a chance to look closely at the applications because he had been out of town.
Some of the contenders he listed were former interim Chief Bobby Whitmire, acting Chief Peter Scheets and Jim Stewart, a retired Army officer and lieutenant in the Bryan police reserves, who was one of three finalists during the search that yielded Ty Morrow as chief.
"There are three or four candidates that I definitely want to look closely at," Watkins said. "Last time I had two excellent finalists, so it's not much different this time."
Watkins said he hoped to have a finalist by the end of August to present to the City Council and a panel of about eight residents.
"I've had excellent response for the citizens' group I've put together," he said. "Those selected will represent all races and all communities within the city."
In this latest search for a chief, city officials intentionally stayed close to home rather than launching a nationwide search.
"I'm looking for ... someone, male or female, who's got some knowledge of Bryan," Watkins said. "Someone who works in the area and understands the uniqueness of our community. We don't need to blanket the whole world to find that."
Watkins said nationwide searches were unnecessarily expensive and time-consuming -- sometimes taking as long as a year.
"I don't want to duplicate that again," he said. "I think the department really needs someone very quickly to be chief. We've got too much going on to wait six to eight months. There's a certain amount of urgency on my part to get someone in here."
Former Chief Morrow earned about $115,000 a year from the city, and Watkins said he planned to matching that salary for the next chief.
A few things will be expected of the new chief.
"I definitely want to see whoever I hire continue some of the programs Chief Morrow instituted," Watkins said. "The expansion of the Neighborhood Enforcement Team, we definitely want that to continue. Reaching out to the community and being very visible is something I'm looking for in a chief."
College Station Assistant City Manager Kathy Merrill said the city's search for a new chief was still in its very preliminary stages. The job opening has not been posted on the city's Web site.
July 1 marked the day Assistant Chief Jeff Capps took over the College Station department as interim chief.
In an earlier interview with The Eagle, Capps said he hadn't decided whether he would apply to become chief of the department past his interim service.
Comments
[comment]
35 comment(s) found!
Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:42 PM
Comment Title:
And your point is what?
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:18 PM
Comment Title:
"yippie - two internet toughies - all is not lost."----This is bryan we are talking about.
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 3:12 PM
Comment Title:
yippie - two internet toughies - all is not lost.
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 2:29 PM
Comment Title: Dirty Harry
$45K and you got you a partner, lets clean up this city. I got some friends you can hire for a token just for opportunity to fire a few weapons and clean up the streets. About a month and I will retire so you can reduce the budget.
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Posted by:
PHARAOH On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 11:30 AM
Comment Title: I'm Shocked!
JAMIE@CS, you have demonstrated your rigid insensitivity. Now bigotry?
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Posted by:
BTL=BRYAN THUG LIFE On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 9:04 AM
Comment Title:
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Posted by:
"Dirty" Harry Callahan On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 8:56 AM
Comment Title: My hat's in the ring...
The search can be over right now. $60 K per year and all the 44 mag ammo I need and in short time Bryan will be as peaceful as Mayberry.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 6:15 PM
Comment Title:
Now that's a mighty good requirement - did you think it up all by yourself?
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 5:59 PM
Comment Title:
Will Bryan advise the new Chief of Police against Handcuffing his wife? The Last time it did not work out.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 3:22 PM
Comment Title: Watkins will hire
Enough said about importance of individual's quality and morals.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 1:24 PM
Comment Title:
Bryan and College Station should be so lucky as to find "tokens" able to keep the crime rate increase at a 2.8% level as did Morrow as opposed to Ikner's 18.2% increase.
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Posted by:
Jamie@CS On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 7:35 AM
Comment Title: Just hoping...
I just hope they hire the best person available and not the token minority hire like chief morrow.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:19 PM
Comment Title: __________DONE DEAL__________
Has anyone noticed that Ty Morrow hasn't moved out of the area and it is looking unlikely that he will. Watch for him to gain highly paid employment in this area very soon. Done deal.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:42 PM
Comment Title:
My hope for Bryan is that the new chief is as effective as was Morrow, holding the crime rate increase to 2.8%, and that the new chief does not embarrass the city. My hope for College Station is that the new chief can cut the increase in the crime rate to one half (1/2) of the 2008 increase which was 18.2% and hang around a little longer.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 9:58 PM
Comment Title:
I hope BPD does not give the new chief any handcuffs for his wife and will not let the new chief drink and drive in College Station.. Also the New BPD chief needs to live in Bryan and not CS like the last one did for almost a year. Being forced to move into Bryan from CS may not be nice, but the need to live in the Ghetto hard crime war zone to get a feel for the slums of the city in Bryan..
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 7:03 PM
Comment Title:
Best of luck to both cities in finding police chiefs capable of holding down the increase in crime rates in both cities. Reducing College Station's 18.2% increase for 2008 will be a monumental task considering CSPD reports a 41% increase in major crimes thru May 2009. Bryan should have an easier time since they had only a 2.8% increase and essentially all of the force for 2008 is still on board.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 6:03 PM
Comment Title: _______________WHO?_______________
I wonder if some investigative reporter will ever let us know the names of those who are interested in being our Chief of Police?
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:55 PM
Comment Title: Fast---- Links
Great Eagle service for those needing Facts.
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Posted by:
City-data.com On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:50 PM
Comment Title:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Bryan-Texas.html
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Posted by:
DESCRIPTION On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:47 PM
Comment Title:
Google: http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/tx/bryan/crime/ see:DESCRIPTION
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Posted by:
Texas DPS crime stats On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:42 PM
Comment Title:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15661360/2008-Texas-DPS-Crime-Stats .....Texas DPS crime stats--100 armed robbery's.... 1000-burglary.... 4-killed....195 car stolen......Agg. assaults-428
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Posted by:
City-data.com On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:35 PM
Comment Title: 483 to 1 ratio
"According to our research there were 149 registered sex offenders living in Bryan, Texas in early 2007. The ratio of number of residents in Bryan to the number of sex offenders is 483 to 1."---City-data.com
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Posted by:
NeighborhoodScout .com On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:32 PM
Comment Title: "Within Texas, more than 90% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Bryan. "----Neighborhoodscot.com
"Bryan has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 13. Within Texas, more than 90% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Bryan. Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 66,069, Bryan has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Bryan does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Bryan. The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined. Now let us turn to take a look at how Bryan does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Bryan. For Bryan, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Bryan is one in 94. In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Bryan is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Bryan, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 15, which is a rate of 66 per one thousand population." ------NeighborhoodScout.com
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:12 PM
Comment Title: RE: Sad State of Affairs
How true on government spending; however, the ever expanding population makes it doubtful that the increase spending will ever be zero. Increasing population too will have an effect on the crime levels as will the current poor economic times. Zero or less is optimal, but highly improbable.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:56 AM
Comment Title:
Get real the EAGLE WOULD GO OUT OF BUSINESS IF IT WAS NOT FOR BRYAN CRIME TO WRITE ABOUT.
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Posted by:
Trapped By Bryan Rats. On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:54 AM
Comment Title:
"Business and building break-ins almost doubled. 93 in 08 ,175 in 09. An increase of almost 90 percent"---KBTX I hope they can do something about this I stopped calling the Police in Bryan it was a waste of my time.
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Posted by:
Rocky Patel Brazos County On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:47 AM
Comment Title:
I see the products of BISD and never lived anyplace but Bryan Would like to keep it statuesque in crime for profit in their city.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:47 AM
Comment Title: Sad State of Affairs
It is a sad state of affairs when success in police work is measured by holding the increase in crime rates to 3.5%. That is like governments claiming successes in budgets by stating they are reducing spending by increasing that spending by lesser percentages. That's the way things are these days.
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Posted by:
P Kauffman On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:37 AM
Comment Title: Successor Chiefs
We can only hope the new chief can hold the crime rate increase to 3.5% as did our past chief in 2008. Scheets seems like a good candidate since he has experience with the current policies. Good luck to College Station in their search. Hopefully they can find a candidate that can reduce the crime rate in that city from the 2008 level of 18.2%
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Posted by:
Mr.Witherspoon On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:11 AM
Comment Title: Scheets
I hope interim chief Scheets remain chief.... he's been with the department for a while... his feel liked among his peeps... he was a great detective and did what he could to help people..... he would be my choose....
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:04 AM
Comment Title:
Currently it appears whoever is calling the shots at For BPD has let Open prostitution and drug sales return to the streets of Bryan. Large intoxicated Groups at Bars have forced Bryan Police out of a bar under attack. Still today the bar is in Business despite having criminal activity with drugs, under age drinking, and assaults all around it. This problem has grown to bars on HWY-21 west of Texas ave. It appears Active suppression of Crime information in Bryan has left the Bryan citizen totally unaware of what is going on. No anti prostitution and street drug sales enforcement operation like the last chief. The Mexican drug gangs and bangers have come out to strike fear into the hearts of not just Bryan residents but other county residents, now as the expand their areas of open operation of narcotics distribution back up By the most likely powerful drug cartel to the south of us. The main Question we need to all be asking is Why only street level dealers are arrested, no middle and higher levels of the Drug distribution network in Bryan. Large amounts of cash talk and they have billions to the south of Texas in Mexico. The same place some of these Hit man that have killed others on Bryan streets of the past years have been rumored to have fled to. Many of this murders are on BPD web-site and Brazos county Crime stoppers, others in the last years no Public information. Bryan's national Crime stats speak for the city. Some of the worst in the United States but is anybody in Bryan listen that is not part of the corruption in Bryan..
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 9:59 AM
Comment Title:
Do a back ground check on the wife and make sure the handcuffs stay at the PD.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 9:58 AM
Comment Title:
Maybe this one will be single.
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Posted by:
P.Larvin-Bryan On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 9:57 AM
Comment Title: Fed up with looking at them all over Bryan.
I hope the new Chief can get the Drug dealers, hookers and Gangbangers under control before the shoot up the city again..
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 7:15 AM
Comment Title: Good Luck
Good luck to whomever ends up taking this politically charged postion.
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