OCT 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 10.1
OCT 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 10.1 WE REMEMBER: We say good bye to a true hero, Senior Police Officer William “Bill” Jeffrey. FEATURE STORIES: • Biden Try’s To Eliminate Border Mounted Officers • Washington Try’s To Shift Focus From Drone Strike To Baseless Whipping Story At The Border • Who Wants To Be A Cop Part 6 DEPARTMENTS • Publisher’s Thoughts Part I. • Editor’s Thoughts • Your Thoughts • News Around the State • News Around the Country • Products & Services -Alternative Ballistics • Honoring our Fallen Heroes • Warstories • Aftermath • Open Road-Mustang Mach E Goes to Patrol • Healing Our Heroes • Daryl’s Deliberations • HPOU-From the President, Douglas Griffith • Light Bulb Award • Running 4 Heroes • Blue Mental Health with Tina Jaeckle • Off Duty with Rusty Barron • Parting Shots • Now Hiring - L.E.O. Positions Open in Texas • Last Page -Take Out the Trash
OCT 2021 Blues Vol 37 No. 10.1
WE REMEMBER: We say good bye to a true hero, Senior Police Officer William “Bill” Jeffrey.
FEATURE STORIES:
• Biden Try’s To Eliminate Border Mounted Officers
• Washington Try’s To Shift Focus From Drone Strike
To Baseless Whipping Story At The Border
• Who Wants To Be A Cop Part 6
DEPARTMENTS
• Publisher’s Thoughts Part I.
• Editor’s Thoughts
• Your Thoughts
• News Around the State
• News Around the Country
• Products & Services -Alternative Ballistics
• Honoring our Fallen Heroes
• Warstories
• Aftermath
• Open Road-Mustang Mach E Goes to Patrol
• Healing Our Heroes
• Daryl’s Deliberations
• HPOU-From the President, Douglas Griffith
• Light Bulb Award
• Running 4 Heroes
• Blue Mental Health with Tina Jaeckle
• Off Duty with Rusty Barron
• Parting Shots
• Now Hiring - L.E.O. Positions Open in Texas
• Last Page -Take Out the Trash
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Surfside Beach gets a new police chief.<br />
Does a relatively inexperienced former Town Marshall from<br />
Santa Fe Texas have what it takes to turn the dept around?<br />
SURFSIDE BEACH — Back last<br />
August, after more than 20 years<br />
of service to the village of Surfside<br />
Beach, Police Chief Gary<br />
Phillips headed off for retirement,<br />
leaving a vacancy at the<br />
top of the department.<br />
“He was ready to retire, and he<br />
headed for retirement the first of<br />
this month,” Mayor Gregg Bisso<br />
said. “We all hated to see him<br />
retire. He’s been the backbone of<br />
this department for years and it’s<br />
going to be hard to replace him.”<br />
Phillips had been the chief of<br />
Surfside since 2010. Before that<br />
he was captain under former<br />
chief Randy Smith. He has served<br />
on the village force since May<br />
2000.<br />
The search was on to find a<br />
new chief to take the reins and<br />
guide the police department<br />
for the near future. Applicants,<br />
including former Chiefs of Police<br />
from various other agencies,<br />
applied for the position, Bisso<br />
said, and city officials began the<br />
process of narrowing down the<br />
list.<br />
Ultimately, they choose a former<br />
Town Marshall from Santa<br />
Fe Texas, Robert Wood, to fill the<br />
position.<br />
“We needed change and we<br />
needed to get someone in here<br />
who could lead the department<br />
as it needs to be in <strong>2021</strong>,” Alderman<br />
Bob Petty said.<br />
A fresh set of eyes could also<br />
help alleviate some of the problems<br />
the town has seen in the<br />
past, Petty said, such as people<br />
not following rules on the<br />
beaches.<br />
The job description posted<br />
on the village’s website states<br />
the ideal candidate must hold a<br />
Master Peace Officer certification<br />
through the Texas Commission of<br />
Law Enforcement and at least 10<br />
years of full-time, executive-level<br />
experience in law enforcement.<br />
Also, applicants for the new<br />
chief’s had to oversee the village’s<br />
emergency medical responses.<br />
“Our police officers are both<br />
police and EMS,” Bisso said.<br />
“They have to wear two hats<br />
every day.”<br />
But by the time Woods took<br />
over, the department had dwindled<br />
down to a small handful<br />
of officers, most of which were<br />
reserves.<br />
But before that, things were<br />
anything but perfect in this small<br />
town of barely one thousand<br />
residents.<br />
Under the former Police Chief’s<br />
watch, former Surfside Beach<br />
Sgt. Randy Heckler had been<br />
suspended for disposing of items<br />
from the department’s evidence<br />
room.<br />
Ultimately, he served a month’s<br />
suspension with pay after the<br />
issue came to light.<br />
To provide background on<br />
what happened, Heckler took responsibility<br />
for cleaning out the<br />
evidence room and eliminate any<br />
items the department no longer<br />
needed to keep. In addressing the<br />
situation with council, Heckler<br />
admitted he didn’t have experience<br />
or training for the task but<br />
did his best based on research<br />
and consultations with Phillips.<br />
His misjudgment came in<br />
how he chose to dispose of the<br />
obsolete evidence. Instead of<br />
ensuring all the items had been<br />
destroyed, Heckler put the items<br />
in a bag, smashed it repeatedly<br />
against concrete and tossed<br />
it in a dumpster near the boat<br />
ramp, the sergeant told council.<br />
He never looked inside the bag<br />
to confirm items had been sufficiently<br />
ruined, and some items<br />
were retrieved by a dumpster<br />
diver.<br />
For the error of improper evidence<br />
disposal, Phillips recommended<br />
Heckler be demoted to<br />
patrol officer and suspended for<br />
seven days. The chief is not able<br />
to demote or suspend an officer<br />
without pay without council’s<br />
approval, prompting council’s<br />
discussion at the end of its July<br />
13, <strong>2021</strong>, meeting.<br />
Council voted against Phillips’<br />
recommendation with the expectation<br />
members could then discuss<br />
and institute a punishment<br />
they considered more fitting. But<br />
since an official vote had been<br />
taken, attorney Patton Ritter<br />
told them, they could no longer<br />
discuss it.<br />
Ultimately both Heckler and<br />
Phillips left the department,<br />
which was left without a chief<br />
or for that matter many officers,<br />
Ready To Serve You<br />
since last August.<br />
Robert Woods took over the<br />
day Hurricane Nicholas rolled<br />
through Surfside wrecking half<br />
the structures in the small town.<br />
The old saying “You have your<br />
work cut out for you,” certainly<br />
applies to Chief Woods and his<br />
mission to rebuild Surfside Beach<br />
PD.<br />
If you’re looking for a sleepy<br />
little to town to call home and<br />
you’d like to be one of the town’s<br />
police and paramedics, perhaps<br />
Surfside is just the ticket for you.<br />
For information contact:<br />
Jim Rodriguez • Law Enforcement Sales Professional • 915-422-6446<br />
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28 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 29