Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Georgia B. Lindley, who has been assistant chief since 2000 and interim chief since June, is being named formally as the Mississippi State University Police Department's top officer.
Capt. Kenneth L. Spencer, the patrol and investigation leader serving as interim assistant chief during the nine-month period, now is officially second in command of the university's 30-person, full-service law enforcement agency.
"We take great pride in announcing that two veteran members of the MSU Police Department are continuing their leadership there at the highest levels," said Dean of Students Mike White in making the announcement.
White said Lindley is the first female to lead law enforcement at the 128-year-old land-grant institution that is Mississippi's largest university. She becomes the fifth director of what was the MSU Security Department before it earned official police department status in the 1960s.
Spencer is the first African-American to hold the rank of assistant chief. He is among eight minority members of the department.
Both Lindley and Spencer are Mississippi State graduates. Lindley also completed a master's degree at the university.
Last year, the MSUPD became only the third in the Magnolia State to gain a stamp of approval from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Based in Fairfax, Va., the organization--whose membership is voluntary--is the nation's only law enforcement accrediting authority.
Thomas Johnson, the former MSU chief, now holds a similar position at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C.