With the exception of a short time during his youth, new Searcy Police Chief Steve Hernandez knew he wanted to work in law enforcement.
“That started back in kindergarten,” Hernandez said. “The teacher gave us a shoebox and told us to make whatever we wanted our job to be when we grew up. I ended up making a jail cell, and I was a police officer inside that jail cell. From that point, all through elementary, junior high and high school, with the exception of one year when I wanted to be a professional kick boxer, that is what I wanted to do, be a police officer.”
Hernandez said his parents knew that and would use it to their advantage.
“I was a good kid growing up,” he said, “but they would kind of use that over my head, if I wasn’t obeying my parents like a normal kid. They’d say, ‘If you want to be a police officer in the future, you’ve got to act right now so that when that time comes, it doesn’t come back and hurt you.’
“They always used that against me, I guess.”
Hernandez graduated from Clinton High School in 1999. He worked construction while applying for a position with the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office.
“I worked for Arkansas Electric, going around the state building substations,” he said. “I knew the whole time I was doing that that it was not going to be my forever job. [It was just] until I could get old enough to be hired on at Van Buren County.”
Hernandez said a person must be 21 to be a police officer but can work in corrections at 18.
“From the time I got out of high school until I was 20, I applied every six months there at the jail in Van Buren County,” he said. “At one time, the jail administrator called me in for an interview and said that I held the record for the most applications turned in.
“I get it now looking back. They didn’t want to hire an 18-year-old to come work in a jail. When I turned 20, they had a new administrator, and he gave me a shot. It’s worked out.”
Originally from California, Hernandez moved to Arkansas when he was 12 years old, settling in Clinton. After working for Van Buren County, he eventually moved to the Searcy Police Department in June 2004 as a patrol officer. He left Searcy and went to work at the White County Sheriff’s Office after his patrol lieutenant, Rick Shourd, was elected White County sheriff. Hernandez worked for White County from July 2007 until 2013, when he came back to Searcy as the public information officer and training officer for the department.
“During that time, I was promoted to sergeant,” Hernandez said. “I then made a move to the patrol division and took over as sergeant there in January 2018. I was promoted to lieutenant in July 2018. Three weeks ago, I interviewed for the chief’s position, and I was able to get it.”
Hernandez said he always wanted to be a police chief.
“Obviously, you have some in law enforcement who are happy working in the patrol division,” he said. “Of course, we need those guys, but I’ve always had the ambition to work my way up as high as I possibly could.”
Hernandez said that when he was first hired at Searcy by then Chief J.R. Thomas, he wanted to be chief some day.
“I sat across the desk from him, and he asked me where I saw myself in 15 years,” Hernandez said. “What I told him, as a confident 24-year-old police officer, is, ‘I see myself in your chair.’ It was kind of a joke, but 15 years later, I’m sitting in that same chair.”
The chief’s position was open because of the retirement of former chief and longtime Searcy officer Eric Webb, who left in November. Assistant Chief Steve Taylor served as interim chief until Hernandez was hired by new Searcy Mayor Kyle Osborne, who took office Jan. 1.
“It’s been good,” Hernandez said of his first few weeks. “There’s been a learning curve. It’s a whole different job. My move happened right in the middle of getting a budget finalized for the department. We had to get things lined out the first couple of weeks. Now, it’s just moving forward with everybody. Everybody seems to be pretty excited about the changes that are happening for the future. It’s been small changes.”
Hernandez worked with Webb for many years.
“There’s not going to be major changes in the way that Chief Webb did things,” Hernandez said. “It’s going to be more along the lines of personnel I’m putting in different places. When people retire, it ends up creating a domino effect. By the time you move one person, you move several more. That is probably going to be the biggest change people see. My outlook is going to be a bit different than Chief Webb’s. That’s not a knock on him. I’m a little younger than he is. The way I look at things is probably a bit different than the way he looks at things.”
Hernandez said working for Osborne is a good thing, especially since Osborne served as Searcy police chief for six years.
“It makes it easier on me because he understands the job,” Hernandez said. “This is still his family over here. You don’t lose that when you retire. If I have any questions, who better to go to than the mayor, who used to be the chief of police? He’s so laid-back and easy to work for that it will make my job a lot easier as well.”
Osborne said Hernandez is a well-spoken, intelligent officer and will do well as chief.
“Everyone knew Steve, and when I was trying to make my decision, I had a lot of calls,” Osborne said. “After speaking with the City Council and telling them the direction I was wanting to go in, they all agreed that he would be an excellent choice. And so far, he has been.
“I suspect it’s going to be that way forever. He’s doing a good job over there, so far.”
Hernandez said he loves Searcy and the people who live there.
“This community makes it easy to be a police officer,” he said. “Talking to other officers and chiefs from the around the state who don’t get the support that we do, that makes it so easy to not only be the chief, but just a police officer in this town.”
Hernandez said that when 14 officers were shot in Dallas in July 2016, the Searcy Police Department was shown lots of support by the community.
“There were people just pouring in with goody baskets or food or just cards encouraging us. … It’s just stuff like that,” he said. “Recently, we had two deliveries with people dropping stuff off at the department. Periodically, people from the community do that. Having that kind of support makes it easy.”
Hernandez said he encourages his officers to get involved with something in the community. He works with the Special Olympics and the Law Enforcement Torch Run.
“It’s well-known in law enforcement that after you hit your five-year mark, you can get burned out,” Hernandez said. “That is where you lose a bunch of officers. That is where I hit my burnout. I ended up finding something that I felt compassionate about, which was Special Olympics. I have been doing that since about 2005. At times, I ask myself, ‘Do I want to retire doing this?’ In the back of my mind, if I get out of law enforcement altogether, then there goes the Torch Run and Special Olympics.
“There was a time when I was in a funk, but having that passion for the Torch Run and the Special Olympics really helped. If you find something like that, it helps with your career.”
Hernandez said he wants to retire from law enforcement when he turns 50.
“My plan is to retire on my 50th birthday, and that is 12 years from now,” he said. “This is my pinnacle. This is where I want to be. My plan is to retire from the Searcy Police Department.”
Osborne believes that Hernandez will retire from Searcy.
“We believe he will always be committed to this area,” Osborne said. “I spoke to him at length, as I did with other applicants. He assured me that he wanted to finish out his career right here. I have every reason to believe that. I think he’s going to do a tremendous job for us.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.