Brent Perkins Leads Mississippi College Public Safety Office

Stephen McCraney (left) spent his final day on the job Friday January 29 as Mississippi College's Department of Public Safety director. He's going to work at Pearl-based MEMA as the agency's chief of staff. Brent Perkins succeeds him as MC's acting public safety chief effective late Friday afternoon.

Brent Perkins moved up the ranks to become acting director of the Mississippi College Department of Public Safety.

A 30-year-old Jackson native, Perkins succeeded Stephen McCraney as head of the MC department. He resigned to become chief of staff at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency based in Pearl.

A Mississippi College graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in 2008 and master’s in 2013, Perkins previously served as the department’s assistant director.

After McCraney’s departure on January 29, “I certainly have some big shoes to fill,” Perkins said Monday. “I feel confident our department is ready to provide the campus community with the same level of service that has been provided in the past. I look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Perkins is a 2003 Clinton High graduate and a resident of the growing city of more than 26,000 people in Hinds County. He moved to Clinton in 1995.

McCraney is a longtime leader with the Mississippi Air National Guard. When a powerful tornado slammed into the Northeast Mississippi town of Smithville in April 2011, Lt. Col. McCraney of Clinton and his National Guard team were instrumental in assisting local responders in search and rescue missions.

In November 2011, then-Gov. Haley Barbour and then-Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant gave McCraney the Mississippi first responder award for his dedicated service after the April 27^th tornado. The storm left 13 dead in Smithville and destroyed 150 homes, 14 businesses and two churches. There was little left standing on Main Street.

McCraney went to work as MC public safety director in June 2011. He began his new job with MEMA on Sunday to prepare for heavy thunderstorms and possible tornadoes expected to pound Mississippi on Tuesday. Gov. Bryant oversees MEMA and works closely with leaders at the agency when disasters strike the Magnolia State.

A Mississippi College graduate, McCraney will continue to serve his alma mater as an adjunct professor of Homeland Security.

Perkins will work as acting chief during the transitional period. “I am a Choctaw at heart, and will continue to serve Mississippi College to the best of my ability,” he said. “I feel privileged to be serving as acting director.”