Down to four

Two former Odessa police officers and two out-of-town police officers have been interviewed for the vacant University of Texas of the Permian Basin police chief job.

Chris Forrest, vice president for business affairs, replied to a Freedom of Information Act request for the list of applicants and finalists for the chief job.

Forrest said of the current or ex-OPD officers who’ve applied, only Paul Young, who’s been with UTPB for two years, and Lt. Rick Pippins, were interviewed.

Pippins declined to comment on how his interview went, and efforts to reach Young were unsuccessful Wednesday.

UTPB public information officer Melanie Nicholas said Young retired from the OPD on Oct. 16, 2006, after 24 years at the department.

Forrest said North Lake College (Irving) police chief John Christopher Drake and Paige (Ariz. Police Chief Tommy Hain were also interviewed for the job.

“The interviews went very well,” he said. “All four have been on campus in the past week and have been interviewed by the committee and myself.”

Efforts to reach both Drake and Hain were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Forrest said a final decision will be made in “about a month.”

One person who didn’t get called for an interview was interim UTPB police chief Joe Samford.

“The committee recommended who’s interviewed,” he said. “I had nothing to do with that decision.”

Samford said he was “surprised” that he didn’t get an interview but “will do what’s best for the department.”

“Things happen for a reason, so I guess I should look at it that way,” he said.

Samford said since he’s not in the running for the job, he will support his co-worker.

“As far as I’m concerned, (Young) is right for the job,” he said. “He has 16 years of supervisor experience at OPD. He’ll be good at the job.”

Samford said he’d support whoever got the job, though, but he hopes it’s someone who’s worked at a college campus before.

“I just would hope they would have university police experience,” he said. “I’m hoping whoever’s chief understands the university system.”

Other applicants who didn’t receive interviews included Milton Tharp of Odessa, Ricky Sanchez of Abilene and Jim Albers of East Bernard.

Five Midlanders — Steven Bracken, Martin Garcia, Richard McKee, Rory McKinney and James Worley — also applied but weren’t granted interviews.

>> Lt. Rick Pippins has been with the Odessa police department since November 1984.

>> Paul Young is a police officer with the University of Texas Permian Basin. He was a sergeant when he retired from OPD in October 2006.

>> John Christopher Drake is currently the police chief at North Lake College in Irving.

>> Tommy Hain is the police chief for Page, Ariz.