NPB chief elected president of PB county chiefs of police association 1993Page 20 -FEB. 3-9, 1993
Congratulations NPB Director of Public Safety, Bruce F. Sekeres
NPB Chief elected president of P.B.
County Chiefs of Police Association
"Even though I may often be criticized for
things that I do and how I may choose to do
them, I try to treat people fairly and be the
best I can be."
The newly elected president to the Palm
Beach County Chiefs of Police
Association, North Palm Beach Village
Chief of Police Bruce F. Sekeres, took his
oath administered by county Chief Judge
Daniel Hurley this past week.
There have been only six presidents for the
association that began in 1956 and four of
those elected have been from NPBV, Sekeres
said.
Originally from Ohio, Sekeres was a
carpenter, machinist and was into drafting, but
says his great love, outside the police force, is
cooking. "Mainly hungarian dishes," he says.
"As Director of Public Safety, my job
consists of "wearing many hats." He handles
routine assignment procedures, drives the
firetruck, gets involved in rescue calls and
works directly with the public handling
complaints and concerns.
He tells of a terrifying experience which
occurred some years ago when he was out in
the field with other firefighters, when Old Port
Cove had their destructive fire.
"The building had collapsed and the
basement area where all of the cabinetry had
been stored was where the fire was the worst.
It was thought that two of my men were at the
end of the firehose within the burning cavern
and I and another force member went in to find
them.
`The smoke was thick and the fire raging
like an inferno. I felt like an `ant on the hearth
of a fireplace.' Even the water that we had
pumped into the burning basement was so hot
that it was uncomfortable to manuever through.
`We got to the end of the hose line and felt
around for our men and when we detetermined
they weren: t there headed back out. During the
course of this 10-12 minutes my breathing
apparatus had disfunctioned and I was
breathing in the heavy, black smoke. I was
frightened that I would become a statistic, but
luckily 1 was only subjected to three days in the
hospital with a minor respiratory problem."
He is a graduate of the National Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Academy and is
actively involved with the Shriners and the
Masons. He says he is also heavily involved
with his church and is an avid beach walker.
Sekeres says that public service in whatever
capacity he is needed is what his life is about.
As a Shriner he often takes crippled children
and their parents to the Shriner's Crippled
Children's Hospital in Tampa. The whole day
is devoted to them and Sekeres says he is proud
to devote his life to his community.