Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A longtime officer with Mississippi State's police department now is serving as interim chief of the university's 30-person law enforcement agency.
Capt. Georgia B. Lindley, who has been assistant chief since 2000, will replace Chief Thomas Johnson, who is leaving to assume a similar position at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.
Capt. Kenneth L. Spencer, leader of the department's patrol and investigation unit, will become interim assistant chief.
"We wish Chief Johnson well as he takes on his new duties at Western Carolina," said Dean of Students Mike White. "We owe him a great debt for his untiring work in leading the department since 1997, and especially his role over the past few years in gaining national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies."
When announced in March, MSU became only the third law enforcement agency in the state to hold CALEA's official stamp of approval. Based in Fairfax, Va., the organization--whose membership is voluntary--is the nation's only law enforcement accrediting agency.
White said the land-grant institution and Mississippi's largest university is fortunate to have two experienced officers to lead the full-service department until a new chief is selected.
"Assistant Chief Lindley and Capt. Spencer are veteran officers who already have established themselves professionally with the MSU and Starkville communities," White said.
Lindley and Spencer both are Mississippi State graduates. Lindley also completed a master's degree at the university.