Published: December 11, 2007 06:38 pm         

Where the department stands today

RCPD celebrates 50 year anniversary-continued

By Tom Shelton

Special to the Herald-Banner



For decades the Royse City Police Department was a one-man department with a separate night watch man patrolling the downtown area at night.

The Police Department grew to three officers in 1984. According to city council documents, by 1988 the department employed 6 officers when the population grew to 2,200 residents.

From 1990 to the year 2000, the city grew by 700 people. The population increase of the whole decade of the 1990’s was nearly equaled in just the year 2000. From 2000 to 2006, Royse City gained 4200 new residents making the population about 7,500. As the population grew, the police department grew. Today, the city population is between 10,000-11,000 residents and there are 18 officer positions in the department.

As the city is beginning to grow into a more urban environment, today’s standards for selecting, training, and retaining officers for Royse City are as high or higher than any department east of the Metroplex.

Law enforcement technology, tactics and techniques have changed. High educational standards, thorough personnel background investigations, and regular physical fitness testing has increased the caliber of officers.

Once applicants are selected, recruit training, field training and advanced training are critical in equipping officers with a level of preparedness needed to perform their job.

Royse City has a good relationship with larger neighboring agencies such as Garland, Rowlett and Rockwall police departments and the Rockwall Sheriff’s department. This has been beneficial in sharing training among the agencies.

Continuous outside training and in-service training has improved the knowledge and capabilities of our officers. There is an abundance of expertise in the department. We work to be able to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Today, Royse City officers are sharing knowledge with other agencies and businesses around the country and internationally.

Small town law enforcement agencies are generally thought of as having relatively inexperienced personnel who rarely investigate major crimes or incidents. Royse City is one of the major exceptions.

This department has been fortunate in attracting experienced officers from larger agencies. Various personnel in the Royse City Police Department have been involved in more homicide investigations, motor vehicle theft investigations, tactical operations and fraud investigations than most small police departments will ever experience.

The department has provided an abundance of training to its officers and to officers in neighboring agencies. Royse City also hosts regional intelligence sharing meetings with the Texas Department of Public Safety quarterly. These sessions generally attract approximately 100 law enforcement officials at each meeting.

Royse City command officers have trained hundreds of employees and officers throughout the Texas and North America. In the past nine months, Lt. James Baker has traveled to instruct personnel (not at Royse City expense) in Aacoma, N.M., Baltimore, Baton Rouge, La., Kansas City, Mo., Louisville Ky., New York, Richmond, Va., San Jose, Calif., Somers, N.Y., Orlando and Tampa Fla. as well as London. Along with instruction of Texas agencies, Lt. Jeff Stapleton has provided tactical training in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Rare in small departments, almost 50 percent of the Royse City police and public service officers have college degrees, with several having attended graduate school. Royse City officers have served as presidents of state associations of vehicle theft, state tactical associations, and as corporate directors of security.

Prior to employment with Royse City, some of our officers provided training to hundreds of municipal, state and federal agencies including FBI, CIA, U.S. Immigration, U.S. Marshalls Service, U.S. Customs and the U.S. Military.

Times have changed from the small town of farm houses and cotton mills which offered a night watchman as the town protector.

The Royse City Police Department strives to hire and train employees as professionals with extensive training. Only 5 percent of police applicants will make the final cut to be a part of this organization. The department works to create an environment to make officers as successful as they want to be.

Today, 80 percent of law enforcement agencies are short in personnel and having trouble recruiting quality officers. Several agencies have reduced standards in efforts to fill their ranks. Royse City is no exception in suffering in a man power shortage.

Hiring officers in Royse City has been more difficult as we have narrowed the pool of job applicants because of the high standards. Royse City chooses the difficult route in filling the ranks because we intend to always maintain those high standards. We feel that when a standard is constantly lowered, then standards really don’t exist.

Today’s Royse City police department is committed to bringing quality law enforcement to the citizens and in forming partnerships with the community to positively impact the quality of life in Royse City.