The six semi-final candidates for Corpus Christi Police Chief are (clockwise from top left) Malik Aziz, Robert Lehner, Abdul Pridgen, Jeff Spivey, Mike Markle, Mark Schauer. Markle and Schauer are interim chief and assistant chief of the Corpus Christi police department respectively.
Six final candidates vying for an opportunity to be the next Chief of Police in Corpus Christi will be on hand to meet the public Dec. 18 after taking a tour of the city. On Saturday, they will be interviewed by city leaders. The seven names were chosen from more than 50 people who applied. (Names were not available by Monday afternoon.)
The police chief meet-and-greet will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Watergarden Ballroom of the American Bank Center.
On Saturday, two panels will interview the candidates one at a time, with plans for releasing a list of the finalists by the end of the weekend. One of the two panels be an executive team, while the second will include department heads and community leaders.
Included in the semi-final cut are two local candidates: Interim police chief Mike Markle and assistant chief of police Mark Schauer. Markle has 26 years experience in law enforcement; Schauer 33 years.
The four other candidates are:
• Malik Aziz, deputy chief of police, Dallas Police Department
• Robert Lehner, chief of police, Elk Grove, California
• Abdul Pridget, assistant chief of police, Fort Worth
• Jeff Spivey, assistant chief of police, Irving police
The new hire will replace the late chief Floyd Simpson who was killed in a motorcycle accident May 3 on Hwy 361 near Port Aransas. Simpson was the city’s 22nd chief of police, serving from 2012 to 2015.
The new Corpus Christi chief of police will be in charge of 432 sworn officers, 220 civilians and a budget of more than $70 million.
The search for a new chief was conducted by Slavin Management Consultants.
