Phenix City swears in new police chief to lead the department
Phenix City has a new full-time police chief.
Joey Weierick, who was the interim chief, was sworn in as the new police chief during a city council meeting, according to an email from the Phenix City Police Department.
Weierick was the assistant chief under former chief George Staudinger, who retired after serving 32 years in the PCPD.
A post from the department’s facebook page says Weierick has been with the department since January 2010, graduating from the Selma Police Academy in April 2010.
Weierick earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University and has served in every division in the department, according to the post.
The post says his other accomplishments include:
- Graduate of the FBI National Academy, session 284
- Completion of the Southeastern Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar
- Earned 240 hours in the Certified Law Enforcement Executive Program through the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police.
“We are excited to welcome Chief Weierick into this new role and look forward to his continued leadership and dedication to the Phenix City community,” the post says.
New chief talks about swearing in and goals
Weierick told the Ledger-Enquirer this is something he has worked for his entire career.
“I always knew that I wanted to rise to the top,” he said, “so I tried to position myself to do that, and just the way things turned out, I was able to get that opportunity, and I couldn’t be happier with it.”
Weierick had been interim chief for a few months and said it meant a lot to him to be named the full-time chief of the department.
“To make it official today really means a lot to me to know that the city manager and the council had the faith and the confidence in me to do this job,” he said.
Weierick said he owes a lot of credit for his success to former chiefs Staudinger and Ray Smith. He said Smith hired him as a police officer 16 years ago, and Staudinger promoted him to assistant chief.
“They taught me how to lead the department,”he said.
The department will work on recruitment and retention, according to Weierick.
“Nationwide, it’s an issue, and we’ve got to figure out a way to attract the best candidates here in Phenix City because that’s ultimately going to make us have the best police department,” he said.
Weierick said the department is also working on getting their new state certification.
“I feel confident that we’ve already got the policies and procedures in place to get certified,” he said. “We’re just waiting on them to come do the audit.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 1:11 PM.