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Scott McCollum was sworn in Monday as the new College Station police chief, a move that marks the culmination of a 29-year climb in the ranks of the city’s police department.
Kelly Templin, College Station City Manager, said McCollum has a long history with the department.
“Scott has been with the department for 29 years, he’s been with the department since shortly after he graduated from A&M, [and] he has served in just about every role that a peace officer can serve in the department,” Templin said. “Scott’s just a terrific example of a great career — that you can come here as a patrol officer and become the chief of police.”
Templin said he likes to promote from within whenever possible, and that in McCollum’s case his long history in Bryan-College Station and his love of A&M will be a great asset as the new police chief.
“The beauty of having Scott in this position is he’s intimately familiar, not just with the citizens, but with the very unique character of this community — Texas A&M,” Templin said. “He cares very much about his alma mater, as do I.”
McCollum said in a press release that he fell in love with the community, which helped him to realize his life’s calling – serving others.
“When I came to College Station to attend Texas A&M, I fell in love with the community and discovered I had a calling to serve others,” McCollum said. “Since that day, I feel like I’ve definitely found my purpose in life and have thoroughly enjoyed developing meaningful relationships with police department employees and with the citizens of College Station.”
McCollum praised the department in the release, and said he looked forward to working with the professionals at CSPD.
“One of the key aspects for any leader is to surround himself or herself with quality people, and I can happily report that we indeed have true professionals at CSPD who will assist me in continuing our efforts to be a premier law enforcement agency in the nation,” McCollum said
Templin said McCollum represents the type of leadership police departments need.
“With the evolution of law enforcement across the country I think he’s the type of leadership that a lot of departments need, and we’re lucky to have him here.” Templin said. “I have every confidence he’s going to do a fantastic job.”