Beaumont: Police chief candidates express their views
Published: Fri, 07/12/24
Police chief candidates express their views
Beaumont Enterprise By Tessa Noble,Staff writerJuly 11, 2024
Beaumont residents on Wednesday had their first up-close look at the final four candidates for the city’s next police chief.
For residents who couldn’t attend, The Enterprise compiled this Q&A with each of the candidates:
Jason Plunkett
Jason Plunkett
Courtesy of Tracy Kennick
Plunkett serves as the assistant chief of police of the Beaumont Police Department and has
over 32 years of experience working with Beaumont police. He has served as a field training officer, a detective, a patrol sergeant, a traffic unit lieutenant, a police-community relations commander, a department budget manager, a Special Assignments Unit commander and a patrol division commander.
Q: Why do you want to be chief?
A: I’ve been at the Beaumont Police Department since I was 21 years old. I’ve been at this police department my entire adult life. This is the only police department I’ve ever worked at, and I intend to retire from the Beaumont Police Department. In the law enforcement profession… there are a lot of people who just want to be a police chief. I’m not the guy that has kept the resume in my desk drawer. I’ve never applied for another police chief job.
Essentially, when this process started, it became apparent that I was probably the best-suited and the best-positioned person to assume the role in the police department. So, the big deal is that I’m doing this for my department. I’m doing this for my community that I’ve served for so long because at this point, I just think it’s the right thing to do.
Q: What do you think is the most important
role of the police chief in the community?
A: The police chief has to lead not only the community but also he has to lead in the community. The most important thing that the police chief can do to start with is to be present in a community. For me, almost everything boils down to relationships and so the organization needs to have a relationship with the community. But the
individuals in the organization need to be in the community so that you can establish those relationships because relationships build trust.
Q: How do you think your skills have prepared you to be the best fit for this role?
A: I’ve been in this job at the Beaumont Police Department for my entire adult life. I can tell you that if you want to just look at qualifications, based on the city’s posting for what they believe the minimum qualifications for the police chief are and the qualifications of the ideal candidate, the fact is that I’m the only remaining candidate who meets all of those requirements.
Q: What are the main goals you want to achieve if appointed police chief?
A: The number one issue that we’re facing is the same problem that agencies all across the country are facing, and that’s the problem with staffing, recruiting, hiring and retention. In Beaumont, we have another issue. We have a lot of impending retirements coming up. So, we’ve got to develop
the officers that we have and prepare them to be leaders in the future. That has to be a priority for us. We have to find and figure out new ways to recruit good quality applicants. We need to continue to focus on recruiting good quality minority applicants so that our police department is as reflective of our community as possible. We’ve made great strides in that area in the past 12 years, but we need to continue that work, and we need to continue to do what we have to do to get those quality
people into the Beaumont Police Department.
: What is the first thing you want to do as chief?
A: The benefit with me is I’m here. I’ve been with the Beaumont Police Department for going on 33 years. So, I won’t need
a six-month or 12-month time period to get in, evaluate my staff or figure out people’s strengths and weaknesses. I already have that knowledge. The good thing is that I can hit the ground running. One thing that is going to be important for us is the city of Beaumont has a strategic plan and a strategic vision. The Beaumont Police Department needs to have a strategic plan and a strategic vision. My idea for that, honestly, I stole it from the Fort Worth Police Department. I want to create a
strategic planning committee, not just with employees of the police department but also with members of the community. Members of the community have a right to help set the direction of the police department for the future. So, that’s one of the first things I want to start working on. Another thing is accreditation for the police department and, again, immediately start developing ways to develop our employees to be prepared to take on future leadership roles, because we do have a lot of
vacancies coming up.
Q: What does transparency mean to you in practice?
A: Transparency means that the community has open access to the police department and that the police department shares information with the community as readily as they can within the rules of civil service
law, the law and the parameters of our contracts and agreements. Essentially, people need to know what’s going on in their police department and that goes back to what I said earlier about those relationships in the community. Again, relationships build trust, and to me, everything boils down to relationships.
Britta Steinbrenner
Courtesy of Tracy Kennick
Steinbrenner served with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 35 years, serving as a sergeant, lieutenant and captain. She has experience in media relations, human resources, preparedness and response, risk management and emergency management.
Q: Why do you want to be chief?
A: This city has a vision, and the vision is dynamic by 2035. I want to be part of that. My entire career has been rebuilding, fixing and creating. One of my proudest moments was creating the Community Partnerships Bureau, where I put all of the community events under one unit. It was very, very rewarding. So, there is an opportunity here, plus I have a vested interest. My daughter and her family live here. My grandkids are 10
months, two years and eight years. They’re not leaving. If they’re growing up in this community, we have to make sure that we have programs and growth for our youth, because they are our future leaders. They are going to be here longer than we are, and I want to make sure they get an education; I want to make sure that they don’t go down the wrong path. So, there are programs in place to help young.
Q: What do you think is the most important role of the police chief in the community?
A: You have to be transparent and visible, and you have to be approachable. I have my three A’s: approachability, accountability and appreciation. You don’t say thank you enough for all the good work that everyone does.
Q: How do you think your skills have prepared you to be the best fit for this role?
A: Not only working custody and patrol but also working specialized assignments, working large-scale events, whether it’s civil unrest, whether it was pandemics, whether it’s New Year’s Eve on the Rose Parade route, all of these, human
resources, working with explorers, volunteers — all the skill sets and my education fit and comply with all the needs of the city.
Q: What are the main goals you want to achieve if appointed police chief?
A: I want to bring community partnerships where law enforcement
and the community are one team. You have officers patrolling the area that they know, the business owners that they know, the different residents that they know, the store owners, the churches, the businesses and the hospitals. Then the other thing is the reduction in crime. It is really, really important because in all the research that I’ve done, everybody focuses on the crime rate. One crime can escalate and destroy everything else, but I want to be able to reduce it so that the media can
only talk about the positive and how well Beaumont is working together. Crimes are going to happen, realistically, but we have to work on getting it to that A-rating. That’s my goal in five years.
Q: What is the first thing you want to do as chief?
A: I want to get to know the community. I want to hold town hall meetings in all the different wards so that I can meet them and then ask them for a list of five important things and then highlight one that I can focus on. Then, from there, we build our camaraderie, our trust and the ability to handle problems together. That also includes my department, city council and all department heads, but really, it’s communities that see me, and they
need to know that I’m approachable. I’m appreciative of what they do. I’m accountable.
Q: What does transparency mean to you in practice?
A: An open book. I have an open-door policy. The door to my office is always open. You’re always welcome. If somebody calls, I answer the
phone. I don’t say, 'Oh, I’ll get to later get to later.' If I do have to call you later, there’s a timeframe that I’ll be calling in.
Kyra Joy Hope
Courtesy of Tracy Kennick
Hope has more than 25 years of law enforcement experience and is currently serving as the second deputy chief for the Detroit Police Department. She has training in narcotics and gang investigations, interdiction, emergency preparedness, critical thinking, administration
operations and crime prevention.
Q: Why do you want to be chief?
A: I think this is a great opportunity. I think, as former Chief Jimmy Singletary said, it’s a family affair. I want to be able to carry that
legacy. When you put in so much time as the chief, you don’t want to see things dwindle away. You want to be able to entrust the baton to someone else to carry it, not just to stop there but to carry it beyond and to reach new heights. That’s what I bring to the department. I’m a visionary. I come from a major city, but it’s not so large I can’t address the piece of the pie that’s within.
Q: What
do you think is the most important role of the police chief in the community?
A: It’s listening and addressing the concerns, being accountable, being very transparent and having the courage to say no when you need to say no, pushing back when you need to push back and fighting for your officers when you need to.
Q: How do you think your skills have prepared you to be the best fit for this role?
A: I live and breathe this. I’ve been doing this for 37 years. I have worked narcotics off and on for 15 years. I worked on a DEA task force. I started a fugitive team, and I was the first female sergeant in the gang
squad. I’ve been promoted up through the ranks. I’ve done investigative work; city corruption. I can keep going on and on, but it’s not really about me and my credentials. It’s about where my heartstrings are right now, because I’ve sprinkled the seeds along my journey. I’ve put in the time, I’ve put in the work, and now I’m dealing with community service right now. So, my heart and my passion is to find that sweet spot of great community and policing.
Q: What are the main goals you want to achieve if appointed police chief?
A: I want to be able to continue to build out the legacy of Chief Singletary. I want to ensure that there are strategies in place to reduce our crime. I want to make sure that there is visibility of our officers on the street.
In addition, I want to ensure that we are constantly working on bridging the gap between police and the community where all diverse groups can have a voice at the table.
Q: What is the first thing you want to do as chief?
A:
I want to be still, listen and absorb. I want to be able to foster all information coming from the troops. I want to get a clear understanding of their concerns and fears, because they’re the ones who are out there delivering services and protecting citizens. That’s very important to me.
Q: What does transparency mean to you in practice?
A: Transparency is being able to give out information expeditiously when it’s warranted. However, that is not to impede an investigation. That’s something that I will not do. I will not impede anything, but I think the community deserves to know of any kind of circumstances that are happening in real-time.
Troy Price
Courtesy of Tracy Kennick
Price has more than 30 years of experience in law enforcement and is currently the deputy chief of police for the Vancouver Police Department. In his time there, he has served as a patrol officer, street crime detective, property crime detective, joint terrorism task force agent, sergeant, lieutenant and assistant chief. He has experience in crime reduction, community connection and recruitment.
Q: Why do you want to be chief?
A: Beaumont is a great city. I love the history here and the fact that so many people in the community are concerned with the preservation of the history of the city. We live in an age where you don’t see a lot of that. So, that’s great. I love the direction that the city is pointing. They’re
looking at some serious economic development and creating what would be essentially a new economic engine here through the development of the waterfront and in the downtown areas. That type of revitalization will change the city overnight and truly make it a destination city. So, this matches what I would like to achieve. I didn’t want to work in a city the same size as the one I’m coming from. I said when I wanted to be chief, it would be a place that was developing that was a little bit
smaller so that we can be a little bit more personable with the community, and this hits all those.
Q: What do you think is the most important role of the police chief in the community?
A: I have to answer this with two things, not one. The number one thing that we have to do as
leaders in a police organization is appropriately and correctly interpret the needs and desires of the communities. The second thing is to rigorously maintain the trust of the community. If we don’t do those two things, we will fail as an agency and that’s not just here in Beaumont; that’s anywhere.
Q: How do you think your skills
have prepared you to be the best fit for this role?
A: I’ve walked this path, and I’m coming from a city that is similarly situated. I’ve had an opportunity to provide a backdrop for the development, and that’s kind of how I see the police department when it comes down to the revitalization project. We just want a safe environment where people feel safe to invest funds to
develop areas.
The other piece is crime reduction. I’ve been very successful. It was difficult climbing out of COVID and we saw that spike in crime, but we’re starting to see the dividends of the work that we did bringing specialized units on board making use of technology. We’re actually driving our crime numbers down. I think we can bring that same type of work to Beaumont and actually help the
citizens not just be safer but actually feel safe.
Q: What are the main goals you want to achieve if appointed police chief?
A: I want to make sure we fill all of our vacancies. That’s key, and then you see what additional resources are needed in order for the police
department to achieve its mission. Number two, I want to make full use of technology and supplement what human resources we put out into the streets to deal with crime. And number three, quite honestly, to make Beaumont the safest city in the county. I like what the city manager said earlier to be the best city in the country. So, then, I would have to make Beaumont the safest city in the country.
Q: What is the first thing you want to do as chief?
A: Get to know everybody. What’s going to be key is making sure I get out to the department, meet all the officers and see exactly what it is they do. Then, meet all of our community stakeholders, that’s going to be key as well.
Q: What does transparency mean to you in practice?
A: That means we’re not surprising our citizens with things, but also making sure citizens actually understand how their police department works, that citizens are actually part of what the police department does. I spoke earlier with a group about oversight, and I said oversight
is not creating a board to oversee the police department. Oversight is including the community in the big decisions of the police department. When I established the body camera program, we didn’t just run off and do that. I actually brought in a couple of key members from the country to help us with that whole project — everything from issuing the RFP all the way to deployment and helping to develop a policy. That way, the community sees what’s going on the inside and they actually
have a say and a stake in it.
Visit the Beaumont Enterprise online to hear the candidates answer three more questions each.
Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
