By Marcial Guajardo
Managing Editor

The City of Pflugerville last month recognized certain employees for varying years of service to the city, with Pflugerville Police’s “Papa Kerr” honored as the most tenured employee.

Patrol Sgt. Rick Kerr was the lone city employee recognized Jan. 24 by City Council members for 20 years of service to the city. Known for his quick wit and outgoing personality, Kerr was a 24-year-old former bouncer when he joined the force in 1991.

“When I started here, the thing that hurt the most was your elbow … because everybody waved,” Kerr smiled. “One hundred times a day … and they actually waved at you with five fingers! It’s different.”

With a Southern drawl and a gentleman’s penchant for using the word “sir,” Kerr elicited kind words from fellow officers:

• “honest, hard-working”
• “exemplifies what this department stands for”
• “willing to do the right thing”

He’s also been seen as a mentor, hence his “Papa Kerr” moniker. He saw many of the department’s current officers through their training, as a former PPD training instructor.

“You don’t get a nickname like ‘Papa Kerr’ without having that kind of personality,” said Police Chief Chuck Hooker. “If he could help someone, he would. He fit in the first day he was here and he’s done nothing but improve the department ever since. It was a good day the day we hired Rick Kerr.”

Although Hooker said he doesn’t believe Kerr has changed one bit since his first day on the job, Kerr admits otherwise. The daily grind of police work – in a town that once had a small-town feel –will affect anyone, he said.

“You really have to stay on top of your game nowadays,” he said. “We’ve had an officer shot at … we’ve had to shoot back at people before. This isn’t a small town anymore. We have the potential of being hurt just as anybody else. It just takes one minute.

“I have a supposedly very outgoing personality. But I don’t like people as much as I used to. It really does turn you, to a degree.”

Kerr recalled a conversation with former Pflugerville Police Chief David Buesing, early in his career, about the growth the city would likely experience. They figured a decade later they would see a force – that had only seven officers when Kerr started – with as many as 25 officers. It was also a time when they knew most of the criminals they apprehended.

But the city’s grown to include around 95 officers now, and the criminals they pick up often are new faces to police officers. Kerr also recalls a day several years ago when, having spent hours on a suicide call in Steed’s Crossing, he and other officers then had to respond to a gang-related shooting off of Grand Avenue Parkway.

But the severity of such calls doesn’t keep the smile off his face, and it hasn’t kept him off the streets. Several years ago, Kerr received a promotion to lieutenant, but 18 months later he asked for a demotion, so he could return to his Patrol Division position.

“I was still of the age that I still wanted to be out there on the street, dealing with people’s problems, feeling I was making a difference,” he said. “It doesn’t take away from what [other officers] do. It just wasn’t me.

“It isn’t about the money.  It’s about being happy in life.”

The son of an Air Force airmen, Kerr grew up in different parts of the United States but never went overseas, as his father did while in the military. Now with a retirement date likely to coincide with his son’s graduation from Texas A&M University, Kerr has his eye on traveling the world.

“Even if I go drive around in my truck and see it through a car,” he chuckled, “I want to see those sights before I’m too old to do it.”