CITY OF SOMERVILLE SELECTS NEW POLICE CHIEF

  

The City of Somerville did not have to look very far to find the next person to lead their Police Department.

Outgoing Burleson County Precinct Four Constable John Bennett was approved by a 4-0 vote of the Somerville City Council to become the new Police Chief. Alderman Jeff Schoppe was not at the meeting.

The previous Somerville Police Chief, Jake Sullivan, left back in October to take the police chief job in Howe, Texas.

Bennett lost the Precinct Four Constable’s race to Jason Rhodes in the Republican Primary back in March. Bennett’s term as Constable is scheduled to expire on January 1, and then Rhodes will be sworn in.

According to the Burleson County Tribune, the council approved a three-year contract for Bennett with a salary of $64,000 annually.

Bennett has extensive law enforcement experience. He graduated from the police academy in 1989, and went on to work in the Houston and Austin metro areas. He later moved to Burleson County in 2013, where he served as a Caldwell Police Officer, a Sheriff’s Deputy, and then became the Precinct Four Constable in 2021.

Bennett has multiple certifications including as a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement instructor, a field sobriety test instructor, an intoxilyzer operator, a drug recognition expert, and as a K-9 handler.

One of Chief Bennett’s first tasks will be filling out his staff. When former Chief Sullivan left, two officers went with him, which leaves the department currently short-handed.