Round Rock and Pflugerville Police Chiefs on Top of Growth

Round Rock and Pflugerville Police Chiefs on Top of Growth

Saturday, 07 October 2006

Charles Hooker, Pflugerville Chief of Police

When Pflugerville Police Chief Charles Hooker began with the police department in 1983, the population was roughly 745 residents. At the time of his appointment as chief of police in 2004, Pflugerville’s population had grown to more than 25,000. What began as a one-man department with City Manager David Buesing, former chief of police, now consists of 54 officers, ten dispatchers, two animal control officers, one associate judge, five clerks, a victim services director and a grant writer.

“As we keep growing and annexing, we will be adding patrol officers,” Hooker said. “Every division will need to grow over the next five years and we are looking forward to serving the new citizens.”

Q. How did you become chief of police?

A. I was promoted through the ranks. I was hired as a police officer in Pflugerville in 1983 and served up until former Chief David Buesing left in 2004. I was a reserve officer in Cedar Park and my brother was an Austin Police Department officer and that’s how I got interested in becoming a police officer.

Q. What are the duties of the chief of police?

A. Just like any other chief of police, I set the direction for the department’s future. I am setting the course. I always like to use the analogy that I am the ship’s captain. I see that it runs the right course, but I don’t sail the ship technically. I also have a lot of community involvement as far as meetings, personnel and answering a lot of calls and e-mails.

Q. How is the department meeting the needs of the community?

A. We are all out there on a daily basis corresponding with the community. We have a safe community. Our greatest challenge right now is the rapid growth and the change in call volumes. We have over 34,000 calls per year and over 100 calls per day. This keeps us very busy.

Q. What does the future hold for the Pflugerville police department?

A. We have a very bright and exciting future ahead. Over the next five years we will see more growth than we have seen over the last 20 years. We will have a greater responsibility to fulfill responsibilities and over the next five to 10 years we will see what divisions need to grow.

Q. What is the craziest call you have ever received?

A. One Christmas a few years ago we got a domestic disturbance call. A gentleman had gotten on the roof of his one story house and was threatening to commit suicide by jumping off. He eventually jumped and instead of falling immediately to the ground his foot got stuck in his Christmas lights and he hung in the air upside down for a good minute. That is definitely one of the more memorable stories.

• Education: Austin Reagan High School, currently taking online classes from Mount State University
• Family: Wife, Corinne; two daughters, April and Cheryl and two grandchildren
• Contact Information: 251-4004, Email: chooker@cityofpflugerville.com

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Bryan Williams, Round Rock Chief of Police

According to Round Rock Police Chief Bryan Williams, the culture of the Round Rock police department is what sets it apart from others.

“What we have is a unique culture in how we do business,” Williams said. “We try to be open and transparent with the public. Our staff meetings are not a closed door secret affair, but an open forum of discussion.”

Williams began with the department in 2004 and feels like his personality fits with the high morale and leadership in the growing Round Rock department.

“There will always be new people and new programs, but at the core and heart of this is how we do business with the community.”

Q. How did you become chief of police?

A. I started as a patrol officer with the McKinney Police Department near Dallas in 1985. I was with them for 19 years and spent the last three years there as the assistant police chief. I moved to Round Rock in May 2004 to be the chief of police here. I started out in the military, and I wanted something adventurous and went into law enforcement.

Q. What are the duties of the chief of police?

A. I have an overarching responsibility of the entire department and the law enforcement services for the city. There is a large amount of administrative policy work and meeting with people and solving problems. It is a mixture of administration and the ‘people things’. I am also a team member to the city and part of the bigger team at city hall.

Q. How is the department meeting the needs of the community?

A. The survey results we have had over the past few years from residents have been very favorable of police services. I think they expect the department to take care of issues, be proactive, and have an open, transparent method of doing business. We want people to be comfortable enough to ask questions. We are also doing what we have to do to enforce laws and maintain order, and also be a safe environment for people to work, live and play in.

Q. What does the future hold for the Round Rock police department?

A. The future holds a lot of things. The immediate and tangible thing is the much-needed new complex that is being built and renovated off Old Settlers Road. We are also looking at how fast the city is going to grow and we are one of the core services that has to grow with it.

Q. What is the craziest call you have ever received?

A. Back in the early 80s, when the department had less than 20 officers, during one shift (which had probably 3 officers working) they had been responding to several calls of indecent exposure around the city but couldn’t catch the suspect on these calls. At some point during the shift all of the squad cars broke down and couldn’t be driven anymore. This left the officers with no marked police vehicles (or any police vehicles for that matter) to respond to calls with.

The shift received another call of an indecent exposure in progress with the same suspect and had to find a way to respond. Their solution? They loaded up and responded to this call in an old Datsun Animal Control vehicle. As luck would have it, the officers were successful in apprehending this suspect.

• Education: Bachelor’s in Business from LeTourneau University; working on Master’s of Business Administration from Texas A&M Commerce
• Family: two sons; engaged to be married
• Contact Information: 218-6650, Email: bwilliams@round-rock.tx.us