by Grace Glasscock
Growing up, I was always recognized by my last name, Glasscock. Whether it was by my parents, who are both principals in Plano, or by my grandad, Bruce Glasscock, who worked for over 30 years for the City of Plano in a variety of positions. I took pride in being recognized because of the respect that my family has earned from those around them. My grandad is still recognized as “Chief,” despite resigning from this position over 20 years ago.
My grandad served in the Air Force for 4 years before serving 50 years in the public sector. He served 32 years in law enforcement, 17 years as police chief, and worked in city administration for 18 years. He joined the Air Force straight out of high school in June of 1962. His chances of getting drafted were high, so he wanted to have a say in what service he ended up in and he chose the Air Force. He served and trained as an Air Policeman in the 1095th Support Squadron at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, Florida, and was stationed in Orlando for 18 months during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Being in Florida during this time, he remembers flying U-2 spy planes over Cuba.
After 18 months in Orlando, he was transferred to a Defense Atomic Support Agency base in Barksdale, Louisiana, where he spent the remainder of his four years on tour. This base stored and supplied all the nuclear weapons for the Eighth Air Force, and as he remembers it, he spent most of his time monitoring alarms underground in what he described as an extremely secure gloo. Their job was also transporting and escorting devices and nuclear bombs from their base to the main base of the Eighth Air Force in Barksdale.
While in Orlando, he met my grandmother, Memrie, who was in nursing school at the time. They were married when he was stationed in Louisiana. When he was discharged from the Air Force in 1966, he returned to Orlando and went to school at St. Petersburg Junior College, where he received his Associates degree in Police Administration. After his experience in the Air Force, he decided to join the St. Petersburg Police Department and was an officer there from 1969 to 1973 until my grandmother had found an advertisement for a new police department in Colorado that was recruiting.
My grandad was offered the job in Colorado and had to turn it down because they did not have the financial means to move from Louisiana at the time; however, the Lakewood Police Department did not want to take no for an answer. Eight months later, he was offered the job again, he accepted, and they moved to Lakewood, Colorado, in July of 1973.
Lakewood, Colorado, was the largest city to incorporate in the US at the time because they didn’t want to be a part of Denver. They became a city of 90,000 people almost overnight and had to create a police department. My grandad described the Lakewood Police Department as an extremely innovative and forward-thinking department. They weren’t officers, they were agents. They didn’t wear uniforms or badges, they wore blazers. It was extremely odd and new to him, but Lakewood was also seen as a training ground for police chiefs. When he left the department in 1984, he was the 53rd agent to leave to become a police chief.
A colleague of his from Lakewood encouraged him to apply in Fort Collins, Colorado, for the job of police chief. He was then hired on as the Chief of Police in Fort Collins from 1984 to 1990.
During his last three years, college students were burning down dorms and houses, trying to become the biggest party school in the country. After the riots, he was ready to move on from
Fort Collins, and he heard that Plano, Texas, was looking for a new Chief of Police. He had no idea where Plano was, but he was willing to dive into something new. He flew into Dallas to interview and was hired as Chief of Police of Plano in 1990 and served 12 years in this position.
During his time as Police Chief in Plano, he joined the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization of police executives. As he remembers it, he was in a Texas Police Chiefs meeting for the IACP, and they were trying to decide who should be elected to be the Texas representative to run for the President of the IACP. My grandad got up to go to the restroom, and when he came back, the whole room was staring at him and he had thought something had gone wrong. When he was in the restroom, the whole room took a vote and elected him to run for the Texas representative for President of IACP. He ran and won and was then inaugurated in 2000 as the 88th President of the IACP.
In 1998, he served dual capacity as Deputy City Manager and Chief of Police in Plano. He then retired from Chief of Police in November of 2001 to serve as the Deputy City Manager until becoming City Manager in 2011. He retired from City Manager on April 30th, 2018. For recognition of his years of service, the City of Plano named the Bruce Glasscock Park in 2019.
In August of 2024, he was recognized by Congressman Pat Fallon and was awarded the Congressional Patriot Award.
As a granddaughter, I could not be more proud to have someone so dedicated and kind to look up to. His legacy of selflessness and commitment continues to inspire all who know him.
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