On the same day the Silsbee Independent School District Board of Trustees voted to create its first police department, it swore in a veteran officer to take the helm as the department's first chief.
The board did not have to look far as it voted on Monday to name Kenny Davenport, a former Silsbee Police officer and Hardin County Sheriff’s deputy, the Silsbee ISD Police Department chief, according to a news release from the district.
Silsbee ISD officials swore in Davenport in front of loved ones and his law enforcement colleagues, which included Silsbee Police Chief Shawn Blackwell and Hardin County Sheriff Mark Davis.
“I’m so honored that they put their trust in me,” Davenport said in a statement. “It’s just an honor to come back and represent a police department and have me lead it for a place where I have spent my whole life.”
The district had been relying on school resource officers commissioned by the Silsbee Police Department and the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office. Davenport, who also carried the role of security and truancy officer for Silsbee ISD in the 90s, spent the past five years as a criminal justice teacher. During two of those years, he also served as the school’s resource officer.
Davenport began his law enforcement career in 1985 with the Silsbee PD and later became the Hardin County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy. Davenport retired from the sheriff’s office in 2019, the same year he became a resource officer with Silsbee ISD.
“We have had great support from the sheriff’s department and the city police,” Superintendent Dr. Gregg Weiss said in a statement. “This is just one more extension to offer assistance and continue to be a great partnership all the way around.”
The district’s police department will start with four commissioned officers, according to the release.
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