BEAUMONT, Texas — A Southeast Texas man with a family history of law enforcement officers is making history on his own.
Captain Onafre Tyler was promoted to captain of criminal investigations for the Beaumont Police Department on January 11, 2023 during a special ceremony, becoming the first black captain in the department's history.
"I didn’t always want to be a cop growing up, it was something that grew on me," Tyler said.
Capt. Tyler is not the first in his family to wear a badge.
His dad was hired in the 70's and worked over 35 years with the Beaumont Police Department, where he achieved the rank of lieutenant.
"He was actually the first black lieutenant promoted within the department," Capt. Tyler said.
His uncle was also the first Black chief for the Port Arthur Police Department.
Capt. Tyler says he's blessed to be apart of a family that impacts the community they serve.
"It was my goal when I hired on with the department to promote to the rank of captain, I never thought that I would be the first Black," Capt. Tyler said.
After making lateral moves into three different divisions within the Beaumont Police Department, he finally achieved that goal.
"It feels good. It's felt like it's been a long time to coming," Capt. Tyler said.
Although Capt. Tyler had family members help set examples for him, getting that long-awaited promotion wasn't easy.
"Anybody that has taken a promotional exam for any rank or grade can attest that it’s a challenging process," Capt. Tyler said. "It's demanding. It's time consuming. So, to finally accomplish it, it means a lot."
Capt. Tyler has served with the Beaumont Police Department for 18 years. Not only did he reach his goal of being promoted to captain, but he also achieved his dream of working within all three divisions within the department: field services, criminal investigations and administrative.
"Some jobs can be deemed a little bit more challenging than others, but I’ve always liked the challenge of learning new things and try to pick up and expand my knowledge as much as I can within the department," Capt. Tyler said.
The captain's goal was to work and learn as much as he could.
"I started off as a patrolman within the department and worked there for years," Capt. Tyler said. "I served as a field training officer and had the opportunity to train quite a few officers within the department."
From there, he was promoted to investigator and served as a detective with the Southeast Texas Auto Task Force.
"My tenure there wasn't very long because, within a year, I promoted to the rank of sergeant and went back to patrol as a supervisor," Capt. Tyler said. "From there I expanded. I went to the Administrative Division and worked as the personnel sergeant and had an opportunity to work and facilitate the hiring process for the department."
Capt. Tyler went from personnel sergeant to lieutenant and worked as a watch commander for a midnight patrol unit. After that, he worked in the administrative division in the training and personnel unit as the unit commander.
Following that position, Capt. Tyler worked in the Criminal Investigations Division as the unit commander for the Southeast Texas Auto Theft Task Force.
"From there, I promoted to the rank of captain where I'm still in criminal investigations but overseeing the entire criminal investigations division," Capt. Tyler said.
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