Introduction to Bruce Thomason
I began my law enforcement career in Beaumont, Texas when I was 20 years old. I was working in a grocery store to pay my tuition at Lamar University and give me a little spending money. A lieutenant on the police department that I knew through church told me one day about an opening for a dispatcher. The job paid the amazing sum of $300 per month! Considering the fact I was only making a buck an hour, this sounded like serious money. I worked my first shift as a dispatcher on April Fool’s Day in 1967. That night, I went home with the certain knowledge that I had found my life’s calling. A few months later, I was sworn in as Beaumont’s newest patrol officer, and the real excitement began. Three years later, I was an experienced patrol officer looking for a new challenge. I moved into the detective division, where I learned how to conduct criminal investigations. My teachers were experienced detectives who knew just about every bad guy in town, including the cars they drove, their a