Category: Crime

A new police chief has just been appointed for our city, Beaumont, Texas. Well, he is sort of new.

The new appointee is Major Jimmy Singletary who started his more than 40 years of law enforcement experience with the Beaumont police, serving 30 years before leaving for a federal position, according to TV station KFDM, Channel 6. I do not know the man although I have heard a little about him and all I have heard is positive.

Singletary currently holds the rank of major with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. The stories I have seen so far online from Channel 6 — which reported yesterday that a “source” confirmed the appointment — as well as the other local media have failed to mention a few important facts which should go into a story of such magnitude. Well, maybe it’s just early. I hope that is the case because when a city gets a new police chief, its citizens/taxpayers need to know a few of the basic facts. It doesn’t matter if they have two officers or “262 sworn police officers and 37 civilians,” as the BPD Website points out. So we are left wondering about matters such as:

How old is the new pick?

None of the news outlets say. PublicData.com, the paid database I use to search various records such as driver license and criminal histories gives the only James Singletary I could find in Beaumont as being 63 years old.

How much does the police-chief-to-be earn as a sheriff’s major?

Databases provided by the Beaumont Enterprise which does not mention this in its online story — the paper has a “paywall” limiting news to those who do not subscribe — indicate Singletary’s 2008 total compensation was $103,149.00 with the Jefferson County sherifff’s office.

What will Singletary make as Beaumont Police Chief?

Again, another good question. The Enterprise‘s database shows current Beaumont Police Chief Frank Coffin had a total compensation amount of $121,703.68 in 2008, the most recent year available for the figures.

A few notable crimes within the city of Beaumont have made headlines this year including the death of 36-year-old Beaumont Police Officer Bryan Hebert, who was killed last month after the officer was allegedly killed by a man involved in a police chase. The suspect, 30-year-old John Nero, has been charged with capital murder.

But it is the police officers themselves who have perhaps drawn the most scrutiny from the public, and a little from the local media. One particular incident was caught on police dashboard camera in 2007 in which Derrick Newman, an African-American who was being detained by Beaumont police after a traffic stop, was allegedly struck 13 times by an officer. That officer, David Todd Burke, was fired in 2010, having been convicted of official oppression. A Texas appeals court affirmed that conviction on Wednesday.

Officer Cody Guedry was also convicted of the same charge in that incident but was given a new trial. He is currently working for the Beaumont police as a community relations officer.

So I don’t know if our local media have asked or plan to ask of Singletary, but there are some questions that perhaps inquiring minds would like to know, such as:

Do you think Beaumont PD has a bad reputation and if so, what do you plan to do to fix it?

Where do your opinions fall on the controversy over whether police actions should be overseen by a citizen review board or one that acts in an advisory role such as the committee approved by the city council? 

Do you plan any major changes in how the department will approach its job? Any shake ups?

And finally, there are a couple of semi-personal questions that nonetheless need answering for a city’s people to gain the trust of its new chief. The first can be asked by reporters with a little tact. An honest answer by the new chief might go a long way in repairing harmed trust issues in the community between citizens and police.

Have you ever had use of force complaints filed against you? If so, how many and what were the outcomes and circumstances?

If the new chief is reluctant to answer such questions, which he really should not be even though it would not be unusual to have some, unfounded, use of force complaints against an officer who has spent as many years on the jobs as Singletary, then the media should go the Open Records route. Although I have lost much of the respect I once had of our only daily, the Beaumont Enterprise, they nonetheless performed well in sticking with a request Beaumont PD tried to derail on officer use of force documents. Perhaps the department does not keep records on use of force as far back as during Singletary’s first years with the department. But if so, they should make those records available because the subject is pertinent.

There are other people to be interviewed as well, of course, the officers of the local police union, sheriff’s deputies and former deputies and Beaumont officers who worked with or for the new chief. This is an instance where a “source” would be appropriately used if that source was very trustworthy. Others who would be of interest are local “gadflies” because they bring color to a topic that is too often bathed in “black and white” or “blue and every other color.” Oh, and don’t forget to ask Councilman Mike Getz, because he seems to be everywhere lately, including Jasper, where their own police department seems to be falling apart at the seams.

And there is this. Singletary, if he is 63, and even if he is not, he is not a spring chicken who should not be busting down doors and taking point in a SWAT raid. That isn’t to say he has or has not done this lately. I don’t know. But it is appropriate for the community to know this:

How long do you plan on sticking around as Beaumont police chief?

Even though all I have heard about the new pick is positive, I still believe the media needs to ask many questions of him and see if he answers those inquiries and what his answers might be. Perhaps you do not feel the same way, but I think that these are not insignificant questions. And believe it or not, we have a right to know.

 

Taking the life of another human being is among the most difficult acts in life to fathom. There are certain exceptions such as war, self-defense, sheer accident or mercy although even many of those who kill another in such circumstances are forever left asking why such actions had to happen.

Rage, however precipitated, is among the most baffling reason for which one kills another. Perhaps when 30-year-old John Wesely Nero gets his day in court on capital murder charges will we find if rage or other matters caused him to assault relatives and lead police on a chase that ended with the death of a Beaumont, Texas police officer.

A probable cause affidavit issued prior to an arrest warrant charging Nero with capital murder stated 10-year Beaumont Police Department veteran Officer Bryan Mitchell Hebert was standing beside his patrol car in a turning lane in the 500 block of Dowlen Road sometime after 10 p.m. Saturday evening, July 9. Hebert was about to set out spikes used for deflating tires in car chases after other officers were chasing Nero’s SUV over a wide section of the city’s West End.

The affidavit describes the violent crash and subsequent police officer death that followed:

“As Nero approached Officer Hebert’s vehicle, which had its emergency lights operating, witnesses stated Nero made no attempt to slow his vehicle down, but instead directed his vehicle toward Officer Hebert’s clearly visible patrol vehicle which Officer Hebert was standing next to. Nero’s vehicle struck Officer Hebert’s vehicle and Officer Hebert.”

Hebert, 36, was taken to a local hospital but did not survive. Nero was seriously injured but his injuries were not classified as “life-threatening” by the police.

Police Chief Frank Coffin told local reporters that earlier that evening, Nero had been confronted by his sister and grandmother over alleged child pornography the suspect had been viewing. Nero allegedly assaulted the two relatives before leaving the residence in the 5900 block of Chisholm Trail, near State Highway 105. The affidavit states that Nero’s mother indicated the suspect threatened to kill everyone if the police were called.

Officers were called a second time to the residence after Nero returned but he left before police arrived. A car fitting the description of the SUV driven by Nero was found a short time later behind a Kohl’s department store about 1.5 miles from the Chisholm Trail residence. Nero fled upon seeing officers and led police on a chase that lasted about seven minutes, according to the arrest affidavit. The chase set in motion Hebert stopping to deploy the deflation spikes and what police say was a deliberate crash of Nero’s SUV into the patrol car and Hebert.

Nero was taken to a hospital and was listed in serious condition although police characterize his injuries as non life-threatening.

Language in the affidavit points out that Hebert was wearing his Beaumont Police Department uniform, badge and insignia, all of which were clearly visible. Texas Penal Code Section 19.03 says in the case of one charged with Capital Murder:

” … the person murders a peace officer or fireman who is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the person knows is a peace officer or fireman … ”

Whether the fact that Hebert was standing near the trunk of his patrol car when it was struck head-on, and in the dark, leaves open a defense that Nero was just trying to hit the car and perhaps perpetrate a suicide by cop car. Or, Nero could always plead guilty.

Hebert was on the list to make sergeant, published reports said. The deceased officer, who resided in Lumberton, is single and survived by his parents, a sister, grandparents, other relatives and his German shepherd, Apollo. A 1993 graduate of Port Neches-Groves High School, he also graduated the regional police academy at Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont.

Some 17 Beaumont Police Department officers have died in the line of duty since the 1880s. The most recent was Officer Lisa Beaulieu, who was struck and killed while working a traffic accident in April 2007.

A personal note: I didn’t know Officer Hebert. I have seen him around and talked to him a few times. I may even have dealt with him adversely. But I have had relatives and a number of friends who were police officers as well as firefighter and paramedics, in regular life and in my professional life as a firefighter/EMT and later as a reporter. Several people whom I have known well died in the line of duty: Deputy Tom Sitton of the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Department, who was shot and killed during a domestic call; Officer Charles Billeck, Corrigan, Tx, Police Department, who was killed in a head-on collision only a block away from me and I arrived just minutes after the tragic two-fatality accident happened; Officer James O’Brien, Temple, Tx, Police Department (formerly Corrigan PD), who died when his police motorcycle colided with a car; Capt. Ed Ivy, Nacogdoches Fire Department, who died of a heart attack while at a training session.

Now, perhaps of rage, another of those who serve to protect their communities is gone.

Such are dangerous jobs those have who protect life, limb and property, and if one has any appreciation for those who try to protect us they should at least give pause and think about what it is such folks do.

Services for Officer Hebert will be held at 10 p.m. Wednesday at the Beaumont Civic Center, 701 Main Street, near the police station. Burial will follow at Oak Bluff Cemetery in Port Neches, TX.