Last Wednesday we honored the Beaumont Police Department and its officers for their service and sacrifice to the community. Our club and the police department are tied together by a shared core value of “Service Above Self.” The men and women are sworn to protect our community, but they are more than just police officers. They are our friends, neighbors, little league coaches and Sunday school teachers. These brave officers are prepared to sacrifice themselves daily to keep us safe.

The program began with the Beaumont Police Department Honor Guard presenting the colors and the pledge of allegiance to both flags. Lamar student Peyton Meeks then sang the Star-Spangled Banner. The Invocation was given by Pastor James Boykin, a member of the Clergy and Police Partnership.

After a presentation by the Rotarian of the Day, Norma Sampson, on the “Gift of Life” program, Arne Almquist gave a brief explanation of why this program was initiated. Arne explained that the Rotary Club of Beaumont is recognizing the Beaumont Police Department for the second year in a row because while we have a similar motto of service, the department’s motto includes protecting the community which frequently involves the officers putting their lives on the line to do so. The program today is to recognize their service and sacrifice, and to particularly recognize some of the officers for extraordinary accomplishments. He then introduced Chief James Singletary to say a few words.

Chief Singletary thanked our club for this program and said the officers very rarely get acknowledged like this, and he said unless a person works closely with the department, they have no idea what the officers go through every day. He said he is so happy and proud that a club like ours is recognizing them for what they do. He also said they are too cool to say how much they appreciate this recognition, but he is not too cool, and he thanked us again for doing this. The chief then turned the program over to Cheryl Bilyeu and Jay Wilson, Sr. who rode along with a police officer for a day to share their experience.

Cheryl said she was glad she passed the background check so she could spend the day riding along with Officer Mark Hall. She showed a video clip of what she hoped and expected her experience to be – it was a clip of a chase scene from the television show, “Starsky and Hutch.” She said “Starsky and Hutch” it was not. She said Officer Hall was a two-year veteran of the department and was very kind and handsome and he taught her a lot. She said they began their watch by flying their colors through a neighborhood, which meant they simply drove through the neighborhood in their police car to make their presence known that they were there to offer protection and that it was nice to see people smiling and waving. They had eleven calls of service that day dealing with things like a loud music call to a family disturbance. They also did special attention checks where they would drive through parking lots of businesses such as Sam’s and Tinseltown to see that everything was ok at the business. The last call was at an apartment complex where a toddler had locked his grandmother out of the unit. They had to call the fire department because they had the equipment to get the unit open. Then they helped a stalled truck in rush hour traffic. They then had dinner at the Black Bear Diner which was delicious. When she tried to pay for the dinner, they learned that another customer had paid for their dinner already.

Jay Wilson, Sr. rode on a rainy day with Officer Collins. He said of the twelve calls they went on, most of them were handled quickly without any intervention. He said officers are provided with five uniforms, a taser, and a small stipend to help pay for their vest, gun, baton, and other equipment they need to carry. Juveniles seem to be committing more crimes these days according to Officer Collin’s experience, which begs the question – why aren’t they in school and where are their parents? The crime rate in Beaumont seems to be increasing based on the number of calls officers have received so far this year. Officers spend a great deal of their time filling out reports on accidents and thefts. He thanked the department for allowing him to ride along for a day and said he learned a lot from the experience.

The program was then turned over to Sergeant Tom Swope for the awards. The first award was the Unit Achievement Award. The Special Assignment Unit was formed twelve years ago by Chief Singletary to focus on violent crime trends. They have been involved in the most serious and high-profile crime cases in the area. Using social media and other intelligence gathering techniques, the unit has had much success in apprehending felons involved in aggravated robbery cases of ATM’s, homes, and has made multiple arrests and confiscated close to one hundred firearms. Sergeant Swope introduced the eleven members of the unit and invited them up to the podium to receive their awards. Members of the unit are Lt. Matt Laird, Sergeant Jason Schmoker, Officers James Powell, Joshua Jackson, Jeremy Shoemaker, Robert Gerard, Agustin Palomares, Bradley Martin, Christopher Hopkins, Philip Smith, and Crime Analyst Stephen Wilson.

The next award was the “Beyond the Badge” award which went to Sgt. Gabe Duriso who could not be with us today. He has donned the badge proudly since 1978, but his impact has gone far beyond law enforcement. He is committed to the youth of the community, sponsoring kids for swimming lessons and organizing trips to the Houston Rodeo and ensuring children have experiences they might not otherwise have had. He avoids recognition and prefers to remain anonymous in his acts of kindness.

The next award was the Meritorious Award and was given to officers who responded to a trail ride shooting. They had to go into a hostile crowd and carry wounded civilians to EMS and patrol units up to a mile away. One of the civilians survived, one unfortunately did not. Officers Heath Holmes, Noah Visser, Daniel Bean, Nathan Hodges, Andrew Vallen, Elijah Jones, and Nicholas Lamb received this award.

The next award was the Lifesaving Award for Officers Bradley Martin and Alex Sikes who responded to a call on September 7th last year where a civilian was unresponsive. They arrived before EMS, saw a man lying on his back not breathing. They took turns administering CPR until the EMS unit arrived, and their actions were credited for saving the man’s life.

The final award was the Lifetime Achievement Award which was a surprise. His list of responsibilities with the Beaumont Police Department, Jefferson County Sherrif’s Department, and other law enforcement agencies was long and involved many areas of law enforcement. His time as Chief of Police has focused on educating the public, increasing the effectiveness of the police department, and improving the relationship between the police force and the community.

Sergeant Swope then showed the equipment that the department purchased last year with a donation from our club. It is a binocular which allows the department to see heat signatures in the dark and has been an extremely useful tool for the department. He then mentioned the Real Time Crime Center which monitors several law enforcement systems to provide real time information to officers as they respond to calls. Our club is donating $1000 to purchase five Fusus units the department will use to loan to businesses considering giving the department access to their surveillance cameras.

The final speaker was Beaumont’s City Manager, Kenneth Williams. He thanked our club for this program honoring the police department. He said since arriving in Beaumont he has been impressed with our police department and its leadership. With Chief Singletary retiring in a couple of months, he assured us that the search for his replacement would be diligent and involve the community. Chief Singletary will be a hard man to replace.