Groesbeck PD welcomes officer Cardenas

Groesbeck Police Department grew by one this month with the addition of Officer Paul Cardenas to the force. Paul Cardenas is an experienced officer from the Killeen area who has served as a Police Chief, instructor and is an Army veteran.

“We’ve had two openings in our department with one being open for two years and the other just hitting the one year mark earlier this month,” explained Groesbeck Police Chief Chris Henson. “They’ve been open that long because we are pretty selective about who we add to our roster since we want to ensure they represent our city and department well.”

Henson introduced the newest officer for Groesbeck Police Department to the city council during the August meeting.

“I’m really proud to be here. I’ve regretted for almost a year not taking the job, and I finally called [Henson] up and said ‘I want to work for Groesbeck’,” Cardenas said in addressing the council. “As we all know, a small town is the best place to be right now, and I’ve enjoyed every day that I’ve been here these past two weeks. I look forward to continuing to serve the community.”

Cardenas has served a total of 18 years in law enforcement, at the age of 30 he served a stint in the military as an Army Specialist E-4 where he served a year in Iraq and an operational mission in Mexico.

He holds an Associates of Intelligence Operations and a Bachelors in Criminal Justice. He obtained his license from Mclennan Community College in 2001 and was commissioned by the H.O.T. Police Academy. He has held three supervisory positions including; sergeant, training coordinator, and police chief with Mart from 2015 to 2019.

Cardenas is also trained as a firearms instructor, self-defense instructor, less lethal instructor and holds a Master Peace officer License.

Cardenas strives to live his life by being ethical and having honor and integrity as a staple.

“One of the reasons I was interested and grew a passion for law enforcement was that I wanted to impact people’s lives and change the system for the better, that is what I continue to strive to fight for today,” he explained. “Some of my proudest moments in my career are being able to spend time with troubled youth... throughout these 18 years I have impacted many lives and there are some that have come back and thanked me for being fair and honest and I take pride in that”

He hopes to bring all his knowledge and experience to the Groesbeck PD.

“In a time when qualified police officers are hard to find, many agencies are lowering their standards just to get the position filled but we chose not to do that,” explained Henson. “Our officers opted to work shorthanded until we found someone we thought would be a good fit and I think it was well worth the wait to get Officer Cardenas. His experiences in other cities and the military have exposed him to situations and issues that many of our officers have not faced here so they are able to draw on that knowledge. Just like the other officers at the police department, I consider him a true asset to our community and I look forward to our continued growth.”

Cardenas expressed that what sets him apart in his career and his accomplishments is his attempts to always try and stay humble. In his stint as a chief, he labeled himself a working chief.

“In order to be a good chief sometimes you need to be a good patrolman.” he laughed. “That comes with attitude and relationships with your community and I think Groesbeck has that, we have a cohesive community that speaks a lot to this department and our citizens.”