Scott Burr oughs
As we are preparing for our annual National Night Out on Tuesday, October 05, 2021 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Robert’s Point Park Pavilion, I would like to introduce you to our most senior Port Aransas Police Officer, my right-hand man, and a good friend, Lieutenant James Stokes. -Chief.
Hello South Jetty! My name is James Stokes and I have been a Texas Peace Officer for 28 years.
The last 24 years have been with the Port Aransas Police Department. I am the Lieutenant and supervise patrol operations, communications and manage the radio system that emergency services utilize. For those of you that listen in on our radio traffic, the few times I talk on the radio, I’m 2202.
My duties don’t really let me get out in the field as much anymore, but they do allow me to work on projects that help the department. I do miss being on patrol, but my body is happy that I am behind a desk most of the time now. I will admit that I do enjoy most of the desk work because it lets me look into the future and shape it for our officers. My most current big project is an upgrade to our radio system. This has been years in the planning and is finally underway. The project will take about a year to complete but will be worth all the work in the end because it will give our officers and all other first responders better equipment that they will use every day.
James Stokes
I also get to keep up with the latest trends in training and equipment being used in law enforcement. I enjoy that part the most because it reminds me of where I came from, patrol. That’s where my heart is, and always will be. My favorite part of being a patrol officer always was interacting with people and solving problems. When I am researching projects and planning training that we should implement I get to interact with lots of different people. I get to meet salespeople, vendors, officers from other agencies, instructors and lots of retired law enforcement officers from all over the country. That keeps me grounded in patrol and in touch with the officers that I work with. The not-so-fun part of my job is helping review and write policies. That’s boring and very dry but necessary so I can live with it.
Another part of my job is being part of the emergency management team for the City of Port Aransas. I won’t admit this to anyone else, but that part is pretty cool too. There are a lot of meetings and exercises that we take part in every year that are pretty dry and boring but there are a lot of opportunities to work with lots of amazing people from all over the Coastal Bend. That makes up for the boring part. As a matter of fact, it was the relationships that were formed over years of boring meetings and exercises that were instrumental in getting resources to us that made us as successful as we were in our Hurricane Harvey response and recovery. The emergency management teams in the Coastal Bend are some of the best in the state and I am glad I get to be a small part of it.
We have a great group of people that work for the Port Aransas Police Department and I am extremely proud to be associated with each and every one of them. They are what make me want to do the best job that I can so that I can help them be the best version of themselves they can be. Over the years these people have become more than just my peers, they have become my family.
Scott Burroughs is chief of the Port Aransas Police Department.
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