Waco Assistant Police Chief retires after 43 years

Waco Police Department's Assistant Police Chief Frank Gentsch is retiring from the force after 43 years of service.

• He sat down with Heather Healy to discuss what he's seen the past 43 years and one of Waco's biggest crime issues to date.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT :

A lifelong career of serving the Waco community is coming to a close.

“There’s been so many good experiences. Now with the good, there’s been some unfortunate experiences, you know, we deal with a lot of ugly in the world, and you remember all of that, the good and the bad,” Waco PD Assistant Police Chief Frank Gentsch said.

Assistant Police Chief Frank Gentsch started as a Waco Police Cadet in October 1980, leading him to a career he never expected.

“Starting out my career as a patrolman, usually the first five years you’re really learning how to be a police officer, and then I made the decision to promote to sergeant, and then I went to the rank of commander,” Assistant Chief Gentsch said.

Seeing the evolution of crime in this community — from the 80s until now.

“Back in my day, it was before 9-1-1. The majority of the crime is the crime you would see in any mid-size city and sometimes we had the big city crime. From robberies to murders to the burglaries,” Assistant Chief Gentsch said.

“We took down one of the biggest cocaine dealers in Waco, Texas. He was a lutenient in the Mexican mafia. We took him down, it was a team effort, we took down 10 kilos of cocaine which at the time was a lot,” he added.

“What we’re facing today is a gang problem. The other issue that we’re having is theft of firearms. These young folks in these gangs are going out they’re finding car doors unlocked in people’s patios and people’s carports. That’s where most of the guns are stolen.”

Now, in his final days in uniform, he’s grateful for giving back to this community that’s given him everything.

“The career I’ve had here, I’ve gotta tell you, is the greatest career I could’ve ever had,” Assistant Chief Gentsch said.