OPD welcomes Detective Autumn Thames

The Olney Police Department named longtime patrol officer Autumn Thames as its new detective, taking the place of Sgt. Dustin Hudson, who moved into a reserve position with OPD earlier this month to devote more time to his family businesses.

Detective Thames has a bachelor’s degree in equine science and a master’s degree in education and taught high school criminal justice classes since 2017 in Wichita Falls. “I left my teaching career to come here and work in law enforcement with [Police Chief Dan Birbeck],” she said.

“I have a background of working with kids and being a school resource officer. I think that will be a plus here in town for crimes against children and also working well with the school district,” Detective Thames has been a police officer for seven years, starting her career with the Archer City Police Department. “I started out working for their police department and then in 2020 I came over here and I was dual-commissioned [in the OPD and Archer City PD],” she said.

She began working with the OPD shortly before Chief Birbeck was hired and has worked as either a full-time, parttime or reserve officer since 2020, she said.

She lives in Burkburnett, where her husband grows wheat on his family farm, she said.

She took on the detective’s job last week and said she looks forward to the role.

“I really like investigative work. It’s really fun,” Detective Thames said.

Detective Thames said she has watched the OPD become “more proactive” under Chief Birbeck and looks forward to working with Olney citizens, whom she described as “very supportive.”

“The people are really nice here. They are very pro police department,” she said. “We are getting out there in the community to make it safer for people and I feel that we do a really good job of community policing … to try and fight crime here for them, to make it safe for them to raise their kids.”