(A) There is hereby created and established a Police Department for the city.
(B) The Police Department of the city shall consist of one Chief of Police and additional regular police officers as the City Council may from time to time deem necessary and proper.
(C) The appointment of the Chief of Police is subject to approval of the City Council. Members of the Police Department will be appointed by the Chief of Police and City Administrator.
(D) The Chief of Police and each members of the Police Department shall hold a valid basic certificate from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) at the time of his or her appointment.
(E) The Chief of Police and all members of the Police Department shall take and subscribe to the official oath prescribed by the Constitution of the state.
(F) The appointment of a Chief of Police shall be made and entered in the minutes of the City Council at any regular or special meeting of the Council.
(G) The Chief of Police shall report to the City Administrator, as necessary on a daily basis. The Chief of Police shall report to the City Council, at its regular or special meetings, on the activities of the Police Department, or on the matters that the City Council may request or that the Chief of Police desires to communicate to the City Council. The Chief of Police will make full-time and reserve police officer hiring recommendations to the City Administrator.
(H) Reserve police officers are volunteer officers who must meet all the same hiring, discipline, evaluation and professional standards as those of a full-time police officer. A reserve officer will perform the same duties as a full-time police officer, but he or she does not receive an hourly wage for those duties. He or she will work those hours and duties assigned by the Chief of Police, or his or her designee, and as required by TCLEOSE regulations and under the most current reserve program policy for the Department.
(1) Reserve officers shall serve the Department at the discretion of the Chief of Police. The volunteer's services and status as a reserve office can be revoked or terminated at any time by either party without reason.
(2) A commission for reserve police officers shall not be for a specific term, but shall continue until that commission is revoked. All personnel serving as reserve police officers shall be subject to annual evaluations by the Chief of Police or his or her designee.
(3) A reserve police officer shall possess the same authority as a full-time police officer per the standards issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TCLEOSE), and the standards outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedures, as well as under Department policy.
(4) The City Council may limit the number of personnel serving as reserve police officers. There shall be no more than ten persons serving as reserve police officers at any given time.
(5) A reserve officer may be eligible for employment if a position should become available. However, the mere fact the reserve officer has served does not guarantee the reserve officer will be selected for employment.
(6) Reserve officers may be reimbursed through Department allocation of budgeted funds to pay for reserve officer equipment, uniforms or training.
(7) A metallic badge, identifying the Police Chief and each police officer, shall be issued to each member of the Police Department.
(I) The Chief of Police shall be the chief police officer of the city, and as such, shall have supervision over the other members of the Police Department.
(J) Employees of the Police Department shall receive the compensation as the City Council may from time to time determine.
(K) It is the duty of every member of the Police Department to preserve the peace within the limits of the city and, to effect this purpose, the officer may use all lawful means, in conformance with all applicable Police Department policies and guidelines.
(L) Every member of the Police Department shall have authority:
(1) To execute warrants of arrest or other process issued out of the Municipal Court in the city;
(2) To arrest without warrant in all cases where authorized by the laws of the state; and
(3) To arrest without warrant when offenses against the laws or ordinances are committed in his, her or their presence, or where persons are found in suspicious places, and under circumstances which reasonably show that the persons have been guilty of some felony or breach of the peace, or threaten or are about to commit some offense against the law.
(Ord. 800212, passed 2-12-1980; Am. Ord. 130205, passed 2-5-2013)