Columbia Police Chief Tandy Carter Having recently taken command of 357 sworn uniformed police officers and an additional staff of 70, Columbia Police Chief Tandy Carter is the CEO of one of the largest firms in town. First and foremost, he is a public servant. Carter began his career in public service. His wife is in public service, and his two sons are in public service.

Carter was born in Houston's Third Ward, an urban diverse neighborhood with the Texas Medical Center (world's largest) as its northern boundary and the University of Houston on its southern edge. He was the second oldest of nine children. His father was in the Air Force, and the family moved as much as any military family.

Carter started first grade in Omaha, Neb., and went to second and third in Okinawa, a Pacific island trophy from WWII.

When he was nine years old and living in Houston, Carter was walking along Pease Street downtown and bumped into an entourage including Gov. John Connally and Pres. John F. Kennedy. This was on November 21, 1963, the day before Connally and Kennedy were shot in Dallas.

Carter's parents divorced when he was in the fourth grade. His mother took the children to her hometown of Columbus, Tex., where she remarried and Carter graduated from high school.

For his four years of high school, Carter was always a class officer. He played both running back and defensive back on the football team and was a point guard on the basketball team. He was also a standout on the track team. His best pole vault, 13'- 6", broke a school record.

Carter attended college at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Tex., where he majored in criminal justice, minored in military sci- ence, and interned as a security guard for the university police.

Carter's family mentor was his uncle, a Marine and a man Carter could look up to.

Even though he was in Army R.O.T.C., Carter enlisted in a Marine platoon leader's course.

After college graduation, Carter became a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines with a two- and- a- half- year obligation. He stayed with the Marines 23 years, mostly in security and the military police.

Carter retired from the Marines in 1998 as a lieutenant colonel. His last assignment was at Camp Lejune, N.C., where he was the provost marshall.

Carter's first job as a civilian policeman was as the assistant chief of police for Wilmington, N.C. He stayed on the job in Wilmington for six years, part of which was spent as the acting chief of police while Wilmington fired and replaced its chief.

From Wilmington, Carter moved to Shelby, N.C., to become their chief of police, a position he held for four years until Columbia came calling.

Carter's wife Gina has two master's degrees in education. She grew up in Carter's mother's hometown of Columbus, Tex., where she met Carter when they were both teenagers.

Carter's wife is interested in entering school administration in the Columbia area. She was recently an assistant principal of a middle school with 800 students in Shelby. Carter and his wife have two sons, one in the Marines as a first lieutenant and another in the New York City schools as a third grade teacher.

Carter plays three sports, none of which he played in high school: golf, tennis, and racquetball. He calls his wife a great cook, and she says the same about him.

Carter sees great potential in the Columbia Police Department, something he has already begun to bring about.