A Shawnee Police officer is continuing his father’s legacy, right down to sporting the same number on his badge.
Earlier this month, Austin Dyche, the son of retired officer Tom Dyche, joined the department. He is currently going through a month-long training program.
Dyche is already a seasoned officer
From 2020 to 2024, Austin Dyche worked for the Leavenworth Police Department in Leavenworth, Kansas. His experience included the department’s field training program and SWAT team.
“You stayed fairly busy. That was something I liked,” he said. “Because the second that you start to get slow, sometimes you get complacent, and then you start to slack off … The city just didn’t allow you to do that up there.”
Growing up in Shawnee, he said he felt the urge to return to his hometown and become a part of their law enforcement team.
“Shawnee just really supports their officers super, super well,” he said. “It seems like everywhere I look, all the officers at Shawnee are super happy. They’re getting compensated for their work. And it’s just a really, really good working environment for the officers.”
Dyche originally wanted to work on cars
While his dad was an officer for 20 years, Dyche said he initially didn’t want to follow his path.
“Cars are a big passion of mine,” he said. “I still work on a truck of mine and I love it. I quickly learned that it was more of a hobby rather than something that I wanted to start a career in.”
When he told his dad that he wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement, he received nothing but support.
“It was kind of one of those things where he didn’t want to push me towards it,” he said. “But if I wanted to go down that route, he’s going to help me in whatever way he could.”
The job has deepened his bond with his dad
Dyche said working in law enforcement has allowed his relationship with his dad to grow, as they share stories and experiences about the job.
“There’s so many moments where we’ve experienced the exact same thing or run into the exact same problem and he’ll show me how he fixed it or like, get a good laugh out of it,” he said.
When Dyche’s class of graduates was given badges by the police department, his dad surprised him by showing up and giving him the same badge number he wore.
“That was a that was pretty tough moment because I had no idea that was happening,” he said. “And it’s just kind of surreal, to be honest.”
Dyche wants to do good for others
While Dyche has experience in law enforcement, he said he’s unsure what field he wants to explore at the police department. Going through training, he said he’s focused on learning.
“My big thing is just being good at my job here,” he said. “I’m trying not to focus too much on where I want to go, outside of just getting good at my job and being a good officer in Shawnee so that I can continue that throughout the rest of my career.”
He also said he looks forward to getting reacquainted with the people in his hometown and hopes to set a good example, like his father did.
“(I want to make) a difference in other people’s lives,” he said. “Whether that’s in a normal day or in their worst day, (it’s) knowing that you either took something really bad out of their life or added something really good. Really, it comes down to that person saying ‘Thank you. That little thing made a huge difference in my day.'”
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