WACO, TX – The Waco Police Department is bidding farewell to two long-serving police officers on the last day of 2020.
Detective Terry Meals and Commander Luis Almaguer are retiring after serving the community more than 20 years with the department.
Meals started his 36 year career in the Waco Police Academy of 1984. During his time on the force, Meals “has been a vital part of every division that he has been a part of,” the department said in a Facebook post.
Meals started off as a patrol officer and eventually made it to the Waco SWAT team in 1989, where he served as a tactical response for countless presidential details and lead research involving the use of revolvers versus the newer style semi-automatic handguns.
In 2002, Meals transferred back to the Patrol division until 2010 and from then on spent the remainder of his career as a detective in the Family Violence Unit, investigating thousands of cases of violence against family members.
Meals has received a collection of awards and accommodations to include multiple Police Commendation awards, multiple Meritorious Unit awards, his Master Peace Officer License and The Presidential Detail Award during his time serving.
Almaguer started his career at the police department in the Waco Police Academy 1988. He served in the patrol division for a short time before transferring to Bike Unit in the Community Services Division in December of 1990.
In 1995, Almaguer changed roles again by taking on the position of the COP Coordinator in the Neighborhood Services Division then was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in 1999, and 10 years later, promoted to the rank of Commander in October 2009.
He moved from the patrol division to being a Commander over the Neighborhood Service-Criminal Investigations Unit in December of 2012 and returned to the patrol division in January of 2015.
Almaguer has also received multiple awards during his tenure that including Police Commendation Award, the Meritorious Unit Award, his Master Peace Officer License, and several others.
On top of the other achievements, Almaguer graduated from the FBI National Academy in September of 2016.
“We couldn’t be more proud of the career that both of these men have had. Now go enjoy your retirement gentlemen. You have earned it!” the police department said.
