Purvis hires new police chief

PURVIS – Joey Walker said he intends to stop the revolving door on the top office at the Purvis Police Department.

On May 9, Walker, 50, officially took the reins as the department's fourth police chief in the past five years.

"I'm not going anywhere," Walker said. "I'm planning on being around here a while."

He replaces Preston Burkhalter, who was named interim chief in February 2013.

"He just decided that he was going to get out of law enforcement and go in another direction," Mayor Roger Herrin said.

For Walker, it's a return to the future of sorts. More than a decade ago, he was an officer with the Purvis Police Department before joining the Lamar County Sheriff's Department.

"I was elected mayor in 1994, and Joey was a policeman at the City of Purvis, and a good policeman," Herrin said. "But he went to the Lamar County Sheriff's Department for more money, which is common, and you can't blame a guy for that.

"He worked his way up the ranks over there, and then had the opportunity to go to work for Lamar County supervisors, where he was one of the road bosses for the past 12 or 13 years."

Herrin said he happened to run into Walker recently and mentioned that Purvis was looking for a new chief.

"It just worked out kind of strange," Herrin said. "I said, 'Man, when are you going to come back and be a policeman?' and he said, 'I love my job.'

"Well, about a week later, he called me."

Walker said the more he thought about it, the more the opportunity intrigued him.

"I had enjoyed that, so I got to thinking," he said. "They were needing or wanting somebody, and the mayor talked to me, and I just decided to come back."

Walker, who will oversee a force of seven full-time officers, was approved by the Purvis Board of Aldermen on May 6.

He said his approach will be fairly straightforward.

"I don't plan on making any big changes," Walker said. "Just serve the public, protect them as best we can. Just do our jobs."

He said he hoped the return to his roots would benefit the city.

"Well, there's been some people that I hadn't seen in a long time, and that's one thing that I want to work on, building relationships with the community," Walker said.

In addition to his duties with the county road department, Walker had doubled as the county's "safety officer," responsible for investigating any accidents, injuries or incidents involving county employees.

On Thursday, the Lamar County Board of Supervisors approved Scooter Cooker as the county's new safety officer.