The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — Charles Wiley, the Houston Independent School District police chief, will take over as Galveston’s police chief July 7 if the city council approves the appointment.

“It really is a matter of me coming home more than anything else,” said Wiley, who started his police career on the island almost 40 years ago. After hearing news of Wiley’s appointment, interim Chief Philip Morris, who was a candidate for the permanent job, resigned from the department effective June 30.

Wiley beat 42 other applicants from across the country who applied for the job, which former chief Kenneth Mack vacated in April after a rash of complaints and probes into the department.

Wiley said he hoped to improve the police department’s image and would work toward creating a service-oriented police force.

“I know (the police department) has had a difficult time,” he said. “I’m committed to make things better. Galveston is a very historical city, and change is often difficult to come by. I think that, based on the employees I’ve talked to, the Galveston Police Department is ready to embrace change.”

Wiley is known for enforcing change in departments. Denton police Capt. Joanie Housewright, who worked four years under Wiley, described the new chief as someone who would undoubtedly take charge.

“I assure you, he can make changes, and he’s going to make the ones he feels that are needed,” Housewright said. “He’s very much assertive. There’s no doubt where he’s going and what he wants.”

Wiley worked as a Galveston patrol officer from 1969 to 1972. He worked for the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office from 1972 to 1982. He said he kept his Galveston home and paid attention to Galveston police news even when he moved to South Carolina and other areas of Texas.

“We’re going to try to do things that need to be done,” he said. “The concerns of citizens are important, and we can become a service-oriented place.”

Meeting The Council

In an e-mail to the city council, City Manager Steve LeBlanc said council members would be able to meet Wiley and vote on his appointment at the June 26 council meeting.

“I believe that Mr. Wiley is the best candidate to bring the police department together and move it forward,” LeBlanc said.

Officers are supporting LeBlanc’s recommendation, Galveston Municipal Police Association Vice President Destin Sims said.

Sims said he thought Wiley would help improve the department because he doesn’t have ties to any one faction in the department.

“I want him to come in and really evaluate all of the positions and really look at the talent he has within the department,” Sims said. “I’d like to see these positions based on merit and not on who the people know or what they did for someone five years ago.”

Native Islander

Wiley was born in Galveston, attended public schools and earned his associate’s degree from Galveston College. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina.

Before taking the Houston school district police chief job in 2006, Wiley worked as the chief in Denton for four years, headed the police department at the Medical University of South Carolina from 1998 to 2001 and also worked the Charleston, Mt. Pleasant and Georgetown police departments in South Carolina.

Morris To Retire

Morris said he had planned to retire when LeBlanc asked him to stay on as the interim chief. He then applied for the job full-time because it had been a “lifelong dream,” he said.

He said that once he learned he didn’t get the job, he knew he’d be better off financially if he practiced law.

But leaving the department will be difficult, he said.

“It’s hard to cut the umbilical cord,” he said. “I’m kind of relieved. It helps me do what I should do anyway. I just love the police department so much, it was hard to make that cut myself.”