Friday, April 26, 2024
Gatesville’s newly appointed police chief, Brad Hunt, who was sworn-in just eight weeks ago, recently spoke to the Gatesville Exchange Club about his law enforcement career. In his opening comments Hunt said he was “honored to follow Nathan Gohlke” as police chief.
Hunt shared with the group his background in law enforcement.
“I’m a Master Police Officer. That means you’ve reached the highest level at the State Licensing Agency that you can through their training,” he said.
Hunt holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Not being from a law enforcement family, he originally planned to be an English teacher, but was later inspired by a constable who made him realize that “you could be a human and an officer. It wasn’t just a uniform, a badge, and an attitude.” The constable encouraged Hunt to take a criminal justice class and, according to Hunt, “that was it” and he wasn’t going to be an English teacher after all.
“The Lord has a way of directing you in the way you need to go and putting you where you need to be,” Hunt said.
His first job was with the Temple Police Department starting in 1995. He was placed on the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations team in 1996 and held that position for nine years.
“That made me a much better training officer and drew me up pretty quick at the age of 24 with those kind of responsibilities,” he said.
When Hunt retired from the Temple Police Department, he was the Division Commander over Special Operations, which included duties over community police, the traffic unit, the school resource unit, the violent crime enforcement squad, the SWAT team, the hostage negotiation team, and the honor guard.
One thing Hunt said that he has learned over the years is to keep in mind that performing his duty is not a personal thing, “I will show this person respect even when they’re not showing it toward me.” He also mentioned that “you tell us how we should be treating you and we re-act and we’re listening to what you want the police to be in this town and what are important things (to the public).”
Following his 25-year tenure in Temple, Hunt later became police chief in Keene.
“I felt that calling to be the number one person to blame, not the number three. I learned a lot there, as a new chief, so that when I came to Gatesville, I had already made all those mistakes of the brand-new chief and knew what to be on guard for myself coming into a new location,” he said.
Hunt mentioned to the Exchange Club that the top nationwide issue for the police profession is public perception – trying to build trust and legitimacy in communities. Concerning his new role in the community, Hunt said “Gatesville is an amazing place and I’m very honored and happy to be here. It’s important that we all work together for the best for our communities.”
