The city of Pearl issued the following statement.
One of Pearl Police Department’s own is coming home take the office of police chief.
Nick McLendon, who started his career in 2004 as a reserve officer at Pearl PD, will be sworn in at the March 5 meeting of the Board of Aldermen.
“I’m excited to have Chief McLendon at the Pearl Police Department,” said Mayor Jake Windham. “He has had a very impressive career during his years in law enforcement and I know that his success will continue in coming home to Pearl.”
Currently serving as the police chief at Richland, McLendon has held several assignments through his career at Pearl and Richland police departments. He worked patrol and SWAT at first, then moving up to K9 and Criminal Interdiction in 2008.
McClendon moved to the city of Richland to serve as a K9 and Interdiction officer at the end of 2008, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 2012.
In 20126, McLendon became Captain over the Richland Flex Division, supervising traffic, narcotics, and interdiction in addition to being the asset, vest grant, and equitable sharing manager.
When Chief Russel James retired in February 2022, McLendon stepped into the spot and has led the Richland Police Department ever since.
Coming home has meaning, McLendon said.
“It’s a great feeling to come back to the town where I began as a reserve officer,” he said. “Being able to come full circle is an honor I’m really proud of and I’m excited to step into this new leadership role.”
McLendon succeeds former Chief Dean Scott, who had been top cop in Pearl since 2018.
24 comments:
Let the mess continue!
Jake said he was going to conduct a statewide search…..where was the job even advertised?
Nick was going to pearl the day that news interview was conducted. Nick and Windham are friends and have been for years. But with that being said. Nick is a stand up guy and officer. Has served the city of Richland well! Congrats Nick!
Nick and Cody are great friends and associate members of the "Goon Squad", birds of a feather, only by pure luck they didn't get taken down with the rest of them. It's coming though..
Will the circle be unbroken? Didn't the Goon Squad include a member of the Richland PD?
I have a relative with Gulfport PD who said he's been waiting on the advertisement for this position and maybe had overlooked it.
Wonder where that loyalty to the team is that Nick demands of his officers who dare to pursue greater opportunities? If you’re a patrol officer making $36k and have the opportunity to potentially go elsewhere making $8-10k more, ole Nick wants your resignation just because you dared to even apply. I do wonder how much this decision was influenced by the Mayor’s sudden resignation in Richland as well as the ongoing microscope being applied by the DOJ in parts of Niknar, including Richland PD. Time will tell. It always does.
The FLEX team at Richland has long been problematic. One has to wonder whether the FLEX team has some past connections to some of the Goon Squad activity, and whether the DOJ’s continuing review of policing in Rankin County involves at least some focus on those years when Nick was the FLEX team leader? Just thinking out loud. Things are rarely what they seem on the surface. Best of luck to him and Pearl PD. The improvement bar is not high.
Speed Trap City.
Trailer Trash Town.
"equitable sharing manager"
Is that where when they do a civil forfeiture he decides who gets what?
@11:16am: 💯
Yet, another reason not to enter Rankin county.
Going to Pearl from Richland is like going to the majors.
@11:51am: Yes, after they seize your money and property without due process and often without you even being formally charged with a crime based on their narrow minded tunnel vision hunch that there might possibly could be a connection to criminal activity because you were pulled over for a minor traffic violation and had what they consider too much cash on hand, which they do not have to prove in court before seizing your assets, the all knowing equitable division manager a/k/a confiscatory agent in charge proudly divides up the proceeds among eligible federal, state and local law enforcement agencies using a pre-ordained distribution formula, then lays all your shit on a table and takes a picture for the local newspaper to demonstrate how effective the pro-active policing scheme is working to hit these interstate crime lords where it hurts, thereby forcing you to file suit and prove your assets are in fact not the proceeds of criminal activity. It’s a beautiful funding source, for them.
@12:18 PM just won today's "longest sentence on the internet" prize. Everything that you penned is spot on.
Is Dean Scott still in hiding?
Just want to know why Pearl didn’t assist CPD, Byram PD, HCSD & JPD with the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat left with the passenger inside. Heck after seeing what these dummies are doing every department in Metro needs one with fully stocked police equipment! Our LEO’s deserve this if their lives are on the line. After losing (3) in MN we must do better as recruitment is getting harder with low pay & danger. Thank you to our new Pearl police chief & welcome.
Jake Windham couldn’t manage a bowl of jello. Next friend loser up!!!!
Is Shad ever going to investigate Dean Scott or is he still afraid to do anything in Rankin Co? C J Lemaster and KF seemed to have everything on a silver platter.
Oh well, meet the new boss same as the old boss.
@1:08 pm: The biggest recruitment and retention barrier is not the pay or the danger. It is in fact the reputations many smaller, largely unprofessional police department have earned for being entirely political establishments filled with and led by individuals filled with tyrannical aspirations as well as the most basic high school equivalent qualities of envy, jealously and an overwhelming sense of superiority. If you’re not one of them ab initio, then you’re a threat to their way of doing things and not to be valued or trusted under any circumstances. This is a well known fact among larger, more professional law enforcement organizations. The potential applicant pool is winnowed down considerably because of this, before pay and danger is even considered.
I thought all the family vacation pics with the goon squad all over Facebook would have been a disqualification. But I guess Pearl does have to Pearl.
He is a good man. A Godly man and I wish him well
I thought Mayor Windham said there would be a statewide search for the most qualified candidate. Where was the job advertised? This is the best that the city of Pearl could attract? People on this page are already associating him with the goon squad on his first day. I haven’t read a single positive comment yet. There are a lot of talented and experienced LE leaders in the state. This feels and sounds rigged.
8 years ago Pearl PD was the example for Rankin law enforcement. It was first in most categories by the standards then. Best equipped, the best trained, they were well staffed. Now they are dead last in the county. Worst pay, understaffed and under supervised, lawsuits mounting, poor morale, and officers steadily leaving. Pay attention citizens. Next year there’s an election.
Scott was making $85k at Pearl as Chief. Pearl's population is around 27k. These are the Police Chief salaries of departments with comparable populations according to the Stennis Salary Survey of 2023.
Clinton - $90,000
Horn Lake - $93,600
Oxford - $106,157
Starkville - $100,588
Ridgeland - $110,903
Columbus - $100,000
Pascagoula - $95,788
Vicksburg - $97,084
The point being I bet even some of their Assistant Chief's are making more than what Pearl is offering their chief. If you are going to attract forward thinking leaders you better start paying for it.
Nick & Cody - Cool names for a couple of rowdies in a Western bar scene. We don't want no trouble in here, you two.
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