WEST POINT — For Tim Brinkley, accepting the job as West Point”s police chief made sense on many levels.
The law enforcement veteran spent 26 years working for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, but during that span his home has been in Clay County.
He also has been an active member of the ministry at Mount Hermon MB Church in West Point, where he has served as pastor for the last four years.
He”s also a published author.
Brinkley grew up in Tupelo, but he”s happy to be “home” full time.
Brinkley”s first day as police chief is Sept. 1.
You were handling all administrative duties for wildlife and fisheries for the entire state, so why make the move now?
It kind of got to the point where I was overwhelmed with all the administrative duties for the state. But it also takes a burden off me having to drive to Jackson three days out of the week. Now, I”m 15 minutes from work. I have a daughter, Tia, who is a junior at West Point High School. It got to be where I was spending a lot of time away from home. All the little household things that go on, I was missing out on those.
Was being chief of West Point Police Department something you”ve pursued before?
I actually applied for this job before I got promoted to major (with Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks) and they hired another guy. At that time, I implied to that board that I didn”t have to have this job, but if they were going to hire somebody, hire local. People outside the community won”t know the culture, and (the previous hire) didn”t work out at all.”
So when it came open again, I initially said I didn”t have to have it. I may have actually been in line for another promotion with my job with the state. I didn”t go to interview with the intention of leaving wildlife, but it all worked out.”
What is the ”state of crime” in West Point?
Relatively speaking, West Point is a fairly safe place to live. Every community has its problems. For the size of the community, West Point is probably a safer place to live than people may think.
What challenges do you foresee, at least initially, as chief?
We”re living at a time now where, generally speaking, there”s apathy for law enforcement. It wasn”t like that 20 years ago.
We”re living at a time when officers need more intensive training, too. We”re going to take a hard look at the training officers we have. Also, equipment needs. Because of the economic situation nationwide, every municipality is strapped for cash. Every community is looking for opportunities for grants and stimulus money.
I think some of my contacts in state government may be valuable there.
You”re the new boss, so what”s on your agenda?
I”m not going to come through cutting heads. There will be changes, but no one has to fear for their job. I hope that puts the guys who are there under a lot less strain.
You”re active in the community, particularly with your church. When were you called to the ministry?
I”ve known ever since I was a child because everything throughout my life and childhood was leading up to me being in the ministry. I began ministering in 2001 as associate minister after serving as youth director for 10 years and on the deacon ministry. Now, in an African-American church, it”s very unusual for someone to pastor a church through that route (being a longtime member). But I have a tremendous love for the people in our church.
What”s the toughest thing about juggling a full-time job, especially when you had to travel, with being a full-time pastor?
Simple, if I don”t have time to devote to it, I don”t get into it. Faithfulness is very important. People need to be faithful to their job — that gets you promoted. The quality of work is important, but a good boss or administrator will rather have somebody who is faithful. Even if the quality isn”t as great as the next man.
You”re a published poet and author of the book ”Stupid Questions Asked of Jesus.” Most people who take on a literary project underestimate how difficult it is. How tough was it for you?
As far as writing, I always excelled at English. When I went to college, my initial goal was to be an author. I had dreams of being a famous writer, thinking that by the time I”m 35 I”d be a millionaire writing about law enforcement. As my life progressed and I got into the ministry, my focus turned to writing about things from God. So when I build manuscripts, it”s always in the back of my head that it could be in a book one day.
So your actual sermons are in the book?
Oh yeah. Each chapter is based on a question asked of Jesus by a disciple. For example, ”How do you know me?” or ”Shall we kill them?” or ”How can we know the way?” What the book is about is applying the lessons from the scripture to today”s life. All of my sermons are prepared in manuscript style because I edit them for my weekly newspaper column and for my book.
Now that the book is published, what was that experience like?
It was intense at times. The nuts and bolts of actually being published is a nightmare. I decided to self-publish (instead of publisher soliciting you, you solicit a publisher and pay for publishing costs). It was back and forth for three months. I don”t anticipate my second book being as intensive now that I know what the process is like.
What elements of your faith can you apply to being chief?
I told the (West Point Selectmen), people generally want someone who is compassionate but fair. The board believes I can do that. What I”m bringing is a sense of compassion, but the law is the law.
I want everybody to understand I”m confident I can maintain active ministry and be police chief at the same time. It”s not common to have a local pastor as your chief, but so many people have called with words of encouragement. That”s been very encouraging.”
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