Megan Navarro
BUDA — The Buda Police Department has 26 sworn-in officers, with 31 total staff members, making the agency one of few in the state to be fully staffed.
The current makeup of BPD varies, as community affairs officer Matt Schima explained that he was one of five who were hired all at once approximately a year ago; that group ranged from having experience elsewhere to being brand new out of the academy. BPD’s chief and captain have a few decades under their belts, as well as the first-line supervisors with at least 15 years.
Now, with two officers in training, the final vacancies within the department have been filled to be a full staff.
While the numbers are not reported, seeing fully-staffed police departments is not common across the state of Texas or nation, Schima said. This is due to challenges, such as the culture that currently stands between the community and law enforcement, as well as what all it takes to do the job.
“Part of it is the culture today. We've seen in the past maybe 20 [to] 25 years a swing in public support and when officers look at opportunities for a career, it's not really enticing to go into a career where you could be sued for doing your job. You could be indicted for a criminal offense when you did the right thing,” he said. “I think young people and those looking into the career see those, as well. Maybe it's not really worth it. I think that's the tough part … There's a lot of small, but loud groups that are anti-law enforcement and so, especially younger officers coming into the profession that are on social media nowadays, they're seeing that a lot. I think that is a deterrent to getting into a career in law enforcement.”
Remaining competitive with neighboring departments, especially the larger ones that are along the IH-35 corridor, is important. Schima explained that he believes the advantage BPD has is the culture, emphasizing opportunity for officers to try different teams and promotions, such as field training officer, corporal, detective, drone, peer assistance, etc.
He added that they also stress the value of promoting teamwork, noting the most recent charity flag football game against the Buda Fire Department, as well as recognizing officers’ accomplishments with the annual awards banquet, which was started last year.
Having a full staff paves the way for more opportunities and addresses the concerns of the community from outreach to traffic complaints and reducing crimes, Schima said.
“We're able to concentrate more effort on reducing those criminal statistics to better serve our community. It also allows us to better serve at our events,” he said. “We are an event city; we have a lot of large events where people come from all over and so, that allows us to have adequate security for those events and we hope to continue growing, so that we can better serve in those capacities.”
The officer continued to highlight BPD’s connection with being community-oriented. When departments are short on officers, it can be difficult for them to slow down in the middle of responding to calls, get out of the patrol car and speak to kids on the street who are playing basketball, for example, Schima shared.
“That community mindset allows us to have the trust that we need in order to do our jobs, to have extra eyes and ears on the street, to be able to not only prevent crime, but solve crime,” he concluded. “We're really proud of the relationship that we have with our community partners from businesses to neighborhoods to individuals, through our community programs and just the everyday mindset of the patrol officer of, ‘Hey, we're going to treat you right, whether it's a traffic stop or domestic violence. We're going to continue to build those relationships and treat people right, so that we keep you safe.’”
Learn more about BPD at www.budatx.gov/111/Police.
