West U Police Chief Ken Walker is one of ten finalists for the job of police chief in Galveston.
West U Police Chief Ken Walker is one of ten finalists for the job of police chief in Galveston.
According to Galveston media outlets, Walker was among 55 people who applied for the job. City officials will interview their top 10 choices today.
Walker has been employed by the City of West U since 2003.
He earned a master of business administration at Abilene Christian University in Dallas. He was the chief of police in Lubbock for seven years and the police chief in McKinney for 12 years.
Galveston city officials need to fill the position that is currently occupied by Chief Charles Wiley. He is retiring in July.
Walker is up against nine other applicants from Texas.
The applicants include Richard Dennis Boyle, police chief at the University of Houston-Downtown, Thomas P. Karlok, an adjunct professor of criminal justice at the College of Mainland, Vicki L. Kind, an assistant police chief at the Houston Police Department, Andrew D. McLane, police chief of Jamaica Beach, Joe G. Pena, captain at the Galveston Police Department, Henry S. Porretto, lieutenant for the Galveston Police Department, Jeffrey Scott Pynes, the chief of executive and administrative officer for the City of Freeport, Raymond G. Tuttoilmonda, a major with the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department and Ronald J. Wrobleski, a customer service representative for Dish Network in Alvin.
It would be a shame to lose Chief Walker. He’s been a star!
Yes, it would be a shame to lose Chief Walker. It was also a shame when Chief Gary Brye left to become the Chief of Police of the Memorial Villages Police Dept.
Chief Walker will not be hired in Galveston, his horrible reputation in the police community will prevent that. West U is stuck with him.
In the five years Chief Walker was police chief before I moved in 2008, I found him to be completely accessible. More than once I had a safety concern and either emailed or called and his response was immediate. I always felt that he and the West U Police Department were available for any assistance, emergency or nonemergency, that I needed.
Although he is some improvement over the one we had before (who watched porno on city computers), Ken Walker has been applying for police jobs elsewhwere for the past several years. We should not hold him back, from his search, but should just let him go.
FYI:
Police Chief Brye who joined the West U Police Dept.in 1981 was the chief when the railroad killer murdered the young doctor in West U, three days before Christmas, 1998. Chief Brye and the West U Police Dept. received national recognition for their work in the case. Chief Brye left the end of 1999 to be the Police Chief in the Memorial Villages. The Police Chief who followed Chief Brye is the one who got in trouble with the computer. He was chief for about three years and I thought he was a good chief. He was replaced by Chief Walker in August 2003.
Lucille, you are a wealth of information on WU. Keep on reminding and informing on our history. Hope all is well.