FOUR BRENHAM PD OFFICIALS PRESENTED CHIEF’S COMMENDATIONS

  

Four members of the Brenham Police Department were recognized during Thursday’s city council meeting for going above and beyond.

Corporal Sierra Randle, Sergeant Seth Klehm and Corporal David Dudenhoeffer recently volunteered to build a storage shed at the Camptown Cemetery, the oldest predominantly African American cemetery in Brenham.

Captain Lloyd Powell applauded the three officers for their contribution and service to the community.

 

Brenham Police Chief Ron Parker said the opportunity came about as Randle was responding to an animal complaint at the cemetery.  She discovered that the equipment and tools to maintain the property were kept under a pile of tarps, with no real security.

Randle was able to gather construction materials from several local vendors within the budget of the Camptown Cemetery Association.  She then recruited Klehm and Dudenhoeffer, who volunteered their time to build a proper storage shed at no additional cost to the custodians of the property.  They completed the project within a day.

Meanwhile, IT Public Safety Administrator Pam Ruemke worked long hours at the police station to maintain vital equipment and systems as air conditioning outages led to extreme temperatures, at times surpassing 100 degrees.

Parker said the department has experienced significant challenges with the station’s AC system over the summer months, and has struggled to obtain the parts needed to fix it.  At one point, the station temporarily lost all AC capacity and had to use portable units to get by until more parts arrived.

During that time, Parker said Ruemke worked “diligently and tirelessly” at the station to check on IT equipment, computer servers and other support systems, making sure they did not fail due to the high temperatures.  He said she would frequently come in very early or stay very late, on some occasions working all night.  He said “her dedication to duty and her willingness to serve” under stressful conditions kept the department’s vital information systems and IT capabilities in service and prevented catastrophic failure.

Ruemke said she is happy to be able to serve however possible.

 

In acknowledgement of the efforts of Randle, Klehm, Dudenhoeffer and Ruemke, Parker presented Chief’s Commendations to each of the four individuals.