BEAUMONT, Texas — Today marks 100 days in office for Beaumont Police Chief Tim Ocnaschek. Formally sworn in on Aug. 22 as the city's highest-ranking officer, Ocnaschek says the department has faced challenges but also major achievements.
Between two officer-involved shootings, the launch of a successful Real-Time Crime Center, and efforts to expand the department, Ocnaschek tells 12News it has been a busy first few months for the agency.
12News spoke with Chief Ocnaschek to discuss what's new at the Beaumont Police Department and some plans he has for the future.
Chief Ocnaschek says he has been working continuously, though he is grateful for the opportunity to serve at a higher level.
He told 12News that the officer-involved shootings on Aug. 24 and Aug. 30 were "heart rendering."
"It's heart rending any time something like that happens, but we always have to prioritize life safety," he said.
Despite the challenges, he says he's most proud of officers' commitment over the past few months.
Moving forward, the chief says he's focused on improving police response times to better serve the community.
"People in their neighborhoods, they want to be able to call someone and have them show up very quickly, but we have such a heavy call load with the number of officers that we have," Chief Ocnaschek said. "We have to work at ways to make them more available."
Chief Ocnaschek says one way to improve response times is by hiring community members to join the Beaumont Police Department as public safety analysts.
"As many innovative opportunities we can to make the officers more available to do proactive policing," he said.
A portion of those opportunities include using partnerships and technology to keep neighborhoods safer.
"We're working with other departments, the other agencies within our four county region," said Chief Ocnaschek. "Some of the funding we got recently from grants is actually promoting this connectivity within these other cities. Even like Orange, they're able to take advantage of our capabilities because it's technology, so you're not bound by, you know, word of mouth or how close we are."
There will be four new hires that will have access to the Real-Time Crime Center to analyze data.
"We're able to use this technology to quickly solve crimes. We're able to give officers feedback that protects their safety," he said. "We're able to direct officers in real-time to precision issues, so we can say hey, this particular person, this particular vehicle is involved."
From day one, Chief Ocnaschek's plan was to foster community relationships, and he hopes to continue doing so in the future.
"There's a lot of expectations, there's a lot of work, the overtime, and the families that support us every day, we're thankful."
You can find the full interview with Chief Ocnaschek on 12NewsNow+ and on our YouTube channel.