By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Oct. 5, 2002
Capt. Keith McCary's family sat quietly in their chairs at City Hall on Friday waiting for the official announcement that the longtime law officer was Meridian's new assistant police chief.
Mayor John Robert Smith's appointment of McCary came more than a year after Police Chief Benny DuBose moved from assistant chief to fill in for former Police Chief Jeff Lewis, who retired in July 2001.
DuBose himself was officially named the city's police chief in January leaving Meridian for more than a year without an assistant chief to help oversee the police department
DuBose and the mayor spent the past few months interviewing three candidates for the job: McCary, Capt. Betty Evans and Lt. Al Brown. In the end, McCary, a 23-year Meridian Police Department veteran, won.
What set McCary apart, DuBose said, was his ability to handle every aspect of the job. All three candidates were good, DuBose said, but McCary "just took control."
DuBose said he and McCary will make a great team.
When McCary first joined the MPD at the age of 18, he said, it was "a life-long dream." After winning the job of assistant chief on Friday, he said he got his "dream job."
Nancy said this is what her husband was born to do.