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Taylor chief highlights changes, targets for department in 2010

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By Andrea Leptinsky and Suzanne Haberman Friday, 12 February 2010

Chief Jeff Straub, Taylor Police Department

Educational background: Master’s degree in Christian leadership from Liberty University, graduated from the FBI National Academy
Work background: Temple Police Department
Date hired: October 1999
Contact: 365-2509, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

What are some of the police department’s priorities for 2010?: We will be working on a form of accreditation. It’s recognition by the Texas Police Chiefs Association, which basically has to do with our policies and practices and opening that up to other sets of eyes to ensure that we meet their standards. That is one goal for the near future.
What is one of most common crimes you deal with in Taylor?: Probably the most common crime is petty theft. Unfortunately family violence is probably second, but that would be true in any community.
What advice do you commonly give people in order to stay safe?: I think people need to be aware of their surroundings. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Call the police. People tell you the story of what they saw way after the fact. If had they called 911 first, we would have been able to deal with the situation right then.
What’s one of the biggest challenges the department faces?: Things here are pretty quiet and that’s one of the things that concerns me the most. Departments that are busy and deal with a lot of violence maintain a certain level of vigilance. But when you don’t deal with that on a daily basis, you tend to let your guard down. A challenge is for our people to be nice, but also be very vigilant.
How many police officers are on the police force?: We have 27 sworn officers. When I first got here, it was 30. We mobilized almost everyone to the field. Of the 27, 21 are on patrol. It allows them to begin a case and follow it as far as they can.
What misconceptions are there about the Taylor Police Department?: The biggest one throughout our area is that Taylor is a high-crime city, and that there are places in our community that aren’t safe. These come from years ago when many of those problems existed. Now, I’m not saying they aren’t problems. We average on our midnight shift here one call every hour and 20 minutes. That is not a crime-laden community.
What advice would you give someone who wants to enter law enforcement?: I would encourage them to do it. It may not be easy, and you’ll never get rich, but it can be extremely rewarding. You will never exhaust the knowledge or skill sets that can be employed in this profession.