BONHAM, Texas (KTEN) -- For 33 years, Bonham Police Chief, Andrew Hawkes has been in law enforcement, and from the very beginning in his career, his goal was to become chief.

Before coming to Bonham, he was the police chief for Sunnyvale, Texas where he helped start the police department from scratch.

According to Chief Hawkes, his plan was to retire at the end of July; however, his plans changed when he saw the opening for Bonham Police chief.

He says he has a passion to serve others and to help other departments to grow. 

And on his first day on the job on Monday, Chief Hawkes really hit the ground running. 

"We had an officer involved shooting, and I had an employee that was involved in a crash. So, I was anticipating my first day, wondering how busy it was going to be, and luckily, none of those bad things happened on Monday, but we were definitely busy."

Chief Hawkes adds they want to make sure their officers are taken care of, and the Texas Rangers continue to investigate the shooting. 

Chief Andrew Hawkes says his goal is to make sure the police department is an accredited agency within his first two years.