By Jennifer Litz
Editor
February 18, 2008

Bruce Burkett has run for police chief several times. As of last reporting period, Jan. 15, he was tied with Ed Cunningham for the least amount of campaign contributions, and absolute last in campaign expenditures. That’s not exactly a barometer of “boon” for Burkett’s candidacy. But with mounting methamphetamine problems plaguing the city, will his platform of drug crackdowns finally win over San Angelo voters?

Burkett has been with the San Angelo Park Police—now the Lake and Park Police—since 1989. He has been assistant chief since 2000. His major platform in running for police chief is getting a handle on drug activity, and he says he has the background and ideas to do it.

“I think we need to get the officers back out there when all the drug deals are going on, not just a daytime job,” says Burkett, who says the department should have a unit devoted to covering gangs full-time. Burkett says transfers have diffused the unit that once was in place. “We had a real good gang unit, who knew [gang members] and their monikers, and could talk to them about all the different crimes. That’s not the case now.”

Burkett says his experience at Lake and Park Police has brought him face-to-face with gang activity. He says they had made congregating spaces out of local parks. The key to tracking them, he says, is investigating lesser offenses that could lead to gang or drug busts.

“The gangs are gonna be hanging out in the parks, doing things like standing around in groups and cussing, smoking cigarettes, disorderly conduct, things like that,” Burkett says. “And I often find that if you pull up and talk to a group of people, maybe you‘ll be able to smell marijuana . . . [There are] just a lot of small crimes that you can just investigate without taking action on, that you can develop things from—just talking to people sometimes, you can tell whether they’re intoxicated. If they’re a minor, whether they’ve been drinking…”

Burkett also wants to roll back bureaucratic red tape. “Officers have restrictions on being able to make simple decisions on the street. Think they have to ask supervisor in instances, whether or not they should make arrests. But they went to school, know what the laws are, and how to apply them.” He also argues for abolishing the “minimum work standard” point system. “Officers are out there working for points instead of concentrating on real problems like enforcement of laws, stopping drugs, etc.,” he says.

Community input is another of Burkett’s tenants for improving the police force. He places importance on the feedback of high school and college students. Not only are these tomorrow’s leaders, he says—they’re also the ones encountering drugs. He describes one University of Texas student he learned about “on the campaign trail” who described prevalent booze and the “occasional” marijuana stick at parties—but widespread easy access to methamphetamine at Angelo State University parties.

Burkett’s campaign contributions are reported at $200 to date as of last reporting deadline, Jan. 15. He had not made any expenditures as of that report date.