BEAUMONT, Texas — The Beaumont City Council is set to vote on naming a new Chief of Police and the community got the chance to meet him on Monday.
The top candidate is Beaumont Police Captain Tim Ocnaschek who was appointed by City Manager Kenneth Williams last week.
Ocnaschek was the guest speaker during Monday night's neighborhood association meeting at Rogers Park.
The meeting focused on hurricane preparedness but it gave members of the community a chance to really pick Ocnasheck's brain. They asked questions about how he would run the police department if he gets the green light from the council.
He says his focus is on building a stronger relationship between the community and police.
While this was initially a neighborhood meeting about hurricane readiness, Ocnaschek took this time to hear the crowd out.
People asked how he would utilize BPD's new Real-Time Crime Center.
Ocnaschek explained how it's already been successfully in its first few days. The captain also spoke about his experience with the area and how he believes it will translate into reducing crime and improving the department's relationship with the community.
"There's been a tremendous outpouring of support so I'm really enthused and I'm really excited," said Ocnaschek. "We've already had some significant success of using technology to stretch our manpower and find criminals in a very quick manner."
Beaumont resident Umar Altaf believes an officer with decades of involvement within the community has the best knowledge on how to improve it. He's looking forward to how Ocnaschek plans to utilize the Real-Time Crime Center moving forward.
"Because police protect us they need to know which areas they need to work in more and how they can protect the citizens better. And if they get to know the citizens' concerns they can always perform better. It's important for community and the police chief to coordinate with each other," Altaf said.
This meeting was the first and last time Ocnashek will speak to the public ahead of the council's vote Tuesday afternoon. The council would need a majority vote to name him the next Chief of Police.