With several hundred people, including family, friends, police staff and officers, city and county officials, as well as community members, in attendance at the downtown Event Centre, Tim Ocnaschek was officially sworn in as the new police chief for the Beaumont Police Department (BPD) on Aug. 22. Ocnaschek, with 38 years in law enforcement, was appointed police chief on July 25. He replaced Jimmy Singletary, who announced his retirement at the first of the year, after serving in the post since 2011. Ocnaschek’s wife, Terri, pinned on her husband’s new badge and Municipal Court Judge Craig Lively administered the oath of office. The new police chief publicly thanked his supporters and the city manager for his trust and faith in him and presenting him to the city council, which also confirmed unanimous support. “I will continue to dedicate myself to this community and to establish better and more relationships – and promote a servant’s mentality,” Ocnaschek said. “With the process, I am reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’” Assistant Chief Wayne Jeffcoat had but several minutes to convey the police chief’s many achievements, both throughout his military and law enforcement careers. Jeffcoat stated that Ocnaschek became interested in law enforcement during his senior year of high school, while listening to a recruitment speech by a Mesquite Police Department officer. “The results were two overlapping and parallel law enforcement careers in the United States Air Force and civilian police agencies,” Jeffcoat summed up, “both starting at the entry-level and advancing to the highest promotable rank in each.” During Ocnaschek’s first duty assignment at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio, Jeffcoat shared, the future police chief’s work ethic and superior performance resulted in recruitment to become a reserve police officer at the Live Oak Police Department. In short succession, Ocnaschek was sworn in as a regular police officer and worked as a reserve and full-time police officer, as well as a dispatcher for Live Oak PD. After four years of active duty, he transitioned to reserve military status but remained assigned to an active-duty Air Force unit. In 1992, Ocnaschek began a 10-year stint as a patrol officer, field training officer, specialist and detective in the Criminal Investigation Division of BPD. Then promoted to the Vice and Narcotics Unit, Ocnaschek was called back to active military duty in the Air Force for 20 months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While serving once again in the Air Force, Ocnaschek was promoted to master sergeant and served as an operational supervisor of an Air Force Base. In 2003, he was recognized as the Outstanding Senior Non-commissioned Officer of the Air Force at headquarters level, according to Jeffcoat. The same year, he returned to BPD and was promoted to sergeant and assigned as a nighttime patrol supervisor; he later became involved in emergency management and started soliciting grants and became the city’s emergency management coordinator in 2007. “He began to build from scratch what has become the recognized benchmark of the emergency management program that we all love and enjoy,” said Jeffcoat. Ocnaschek continued to rise through the ranks of BPD and the Air Force, attaining Captain status at BPD and the top enlisted functional manager for law enforcement squadrons throughout his command at the Air Force until he retired in 2018 after 33 years of military service. The BPD top officer holds a litany of degrees and certifications, in addition to international certification through IEAM. “During his 17 years as the emergency management coordinator with the city, and under four mayors, he’s led the city through multiple nationally declared disasters,” Jeffcoat added of Ocnaschek, who is also the Golden Triangle Incident Management team leader, president of the Sabine-Neches Chiefs Association, past vice-president of the Texas Legislative First Responder Advisory Council, past secretary for the Texas Emergency Management Performance Grant Committee, co-chair of the State Emergency Management Recovery Committee and Region 6 director for the All-Hazard Incident Management Association (a five-state area).