LAW ENFORCEMENT
TAYLOR – New Police Chief Joseph Chacon hasn’t lost a minute in getting to know Taylor and its residents.
He has spent the first four months since he was hired meeting with community groups, modernizing and finding ways to upgrade the Taylor Police Department, including stressing the doctrine of “community policing” to build bridges with those he’s sworn to protect and to serve.
Chacon said the former leadership left the department in good shape and he hasn’t found anything requiring major changes.
“One of my central tenets is that police should be delivering police services the way a community wants them delivered, so we need to be actively listening and then take what we’re hearing, and that should translate into policy and practice,” the El Paso native said.
“So right now, I’m still kind of in that mode of figuring out what are the big changes, if any, that we need to make to the department. I’m not considering having any huge wholesale changes.”
His approach to community policing, a practice he outlined in a recent luncheon hosted by the Greater Taylor Chamber of Commerce, boils down to preventing crimes instead of just sending people to jail.
“Policing is not something that’s done to a community, it’s something that’s done with a community,” Chacon told the audience. “The police are the public; the public are the police. Many departments have lost sight of that.”
Chacon informed listeners he is an advocate for community policing, an approach that is proactive instead of reactive, relationship-focused and “community-driven.”
GETTING STARTED
Chacon’s first day at the helm was March 30 and he was sworn in April 8.
Prior to that, he served as the director of emergency services for Pflugerville, a job he took after retiring from the Austin Police Department where he served as chief from 2021-23.
He spent 25 years at the Austin department and worked for the El Paso Police Department before that. He also holds a Master of Public Administration degree.
Chacon was one of four candidates for the position of Taylor’s top cop after former Chief Henry Fluck resigned in September 2025. Commander Joseph Branson, a longtime veteran of the Taylor force, took over as the interim police chief during the search for a new administrator and threw his own hat in the ring as an applicant.
After Chacon was confirmed by the City Council, Branson returned to his former role as support services commander.
“Commander Branson really is my right-hand guy,” Chacon said.
In addition to a supportive police leadership staff, Chacon said it seems he has inherited a council willing to work with him. The chief has already presented several proposals to the council and all received approval.
Among those are hiring a consultant to create a four-year strategic plan for the department, something not previously done. The plan would help develop shortand long-term visions for the department to meet community expectations, he said.
Chacon has also received the green light to contract for a comprehensive external audit of the Police Department’s evidence room. The audit is necessary to maintain accreditation with the Texas Police Chiefs Association.
Taylor has earned this accreditation for five years, a feat Chacon said shows the city and the department have long been committed to following best practices for community policing.
The new chief has applied for a grant from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles – Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority which would provide better technological capabilities if approved.
The grant would fund a high-resolution camera for documenting crime scenes and creating public service announcements; a drone; a speed-display trailer that in addition to showing drivers’ speeds would also be an automated license-plate reader; and activation of software that would enable all patrol vehicle cameras to act as mobile automated license-plate readers.
“I think it’s really important that we go after those grants,” Chacon told the council in May. “It helps to support the Police Department and our ability to keep the community safe without having to put that burden back on the taxpayer.”
Not all of the chief ’s initiatives have met with universal approval.
Community advocate Carrie D’Anna registered her fears about potential abuses and invasion of privacy from license-plate readers and the drone Chacon hopes to pay for through grant funding.
“I have great concerns about expanding what is considered surveillance on the population,” she said. “I would like to see a lot more public assurance that those things are treated with privacy and respect. Drones are a big problem. Using them for events that we are all going to publicly feels like very much a crossing of the line.”
D’Anna also took issue in July with the council’s approval of giving police officers more Tasers — stun guns that use an electronic charge to subdue non-compliant individuals, generally regarded as less lethal than bullets.
COMPASSIONATE POLICING
During the police chief recruitment process, some community members expressed a desire for what they termed as more compassion from police officers when dealing with people who are mentally ill, unhoused or otherwise in need of added community support.
Chacon said he has been listening to and is meeting with different community groups to address their concerns.
Taylor officers receive yearly training on best practices when encountering different types of individuals.
Chacon himself has a child with special needs, so he is knowledgeable about some of the difficulties facing at-risk communities. Chacon and his family have elected to continue living in Pflugerville rather than move to Taylor to maintain continuity for his child’s services and education.
The Rev. Terry Pierce, the recently retired vicar of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Taylor and a friend of the LGBTQ+ community, indicated relations with the Police Department remain respectful and cordial.
She said the police presence at the June 27 Taylor Pride Festival was supportive as always, adding she has seen no reason to believe the relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and the Police Department will change.
“I haven’t seen anything that concerns me at all. I thought Pride went great, and I’m always grateful there’s a police presence there. I have a lot of confidence in the Taylor Police Department,” the minister said. “Over the years our relationship with TPD has been great and I see that continuing. They’ve always been really supportive of us.”
Chacon said he is finding the relationship between the community and the force is generally one of mutual respect.
“The support for the police is very strong, and I feel like our department is trusted and our department is respected. And that’s a really, really good feeling. It has been a pretty big transition coming from where I came from,” the chief said, referring to his long career in the Austin Police Department.
Taylor’s population is about 18,000 and served by a force of just under 40 sworn personnel. The U.S. census puts Austin’s residents at more than 1 million people, with 1,474 officers on the city
force. According to recent figures, Austin’s department is understaffed by almost 19%.
NEWRESOURCE
Chacon said his experience the last two years working as a one-man department in Pflugerville served as a good transition between the Austin department with its large staff and abundant resources, to the much smaller Taylor force.
He believes working in emergency management gave him an enhanced understanding of how small-town departments collaborate in times of crisis.
“We have to find ways to accomplish the things that we want to do. That makes us have to be more resourceful and more innovative, and that is something that I found is plentiful here with the Taylor Police Department,” Chacon said. “They really understand where we are as a department and what the needs of the community are and find ways to accomplish the things that we need to accomplish.”
Chacon believes his focus on datadriven policing will help with efficiency. He said data can show where and when police patrols are most needed, allowing for best use of available resources.
Meanwhile, the chief is about a year away from the department receiving a major new resource.
The city broke ground on a $53 million Justice Center in April. The new facility will have much more space for police work, technology, evidence storage, vehicles and training.
Still, Chacon said, community policing is about the people – the officers, the city leaders and community members who all work together to give a town its culture and sense of security.
“Really what it comes down to is treating people with dignity and respect, making sure that our officers go out and they’re putting a 100% effort into the calls that they’re taking and the cases they’re investigating,” Chacon said.
He added, “I think that it’s my responsibility to be a Police Department and a chief for the whole city. So there is no one part of the city that’s going to get more attention from me and the department than any other. I feel like it’s our responsibility to be there for everyone.”
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