For the first time in nearly two decades, Plano has a new police chief.
Ed Drain hasn’t even started the job yet, but he’s already making history as the city’s first African American police chief.
“I think the Plano community is accustomed to that. We have a mayor who is African Ameircan in Plano,” Drain said.
Drain is no stranger to Plano.
He began his law enforcement career in Plano in 1994, rising through the ranks to assistant chief.
He left to lead Amarillo's police department in 2016.
“There is no other department that I would have come back to,” Drain said.
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Drain didn't initially apply for the position and was not one of the original three finalists.
He said it was his wife, a recently retired prosecutor, who convinced him to apply.
“We have a lot of family that's in the metroplex. We have family that's in East Texas,” he said.
Much has been made in Plano about more apartments, a strain on city streets and in schools from the city's population boom.
Drain said he believed the department had handled growth well.
“That's going to be my hardest job, is trying to keep the crime rate down and trying to keep the traffic fatalities and accidents down,” he said.
Plano's former police chief, Greg Rushin, was promoted to deputy city manager in September.
Drain's first day on the job is February 24.
