The following monthly reports for March 2021 were included in Council packets at the Regular meeting held on April 20.
Police Department
The department fielded 487 calls and worked 1,643.19 hours with 33.25 hours of overtime.
Devine PD assisted other agencies 27 times, including eight calls and 10 hours and 24 minutes on calls outside City limits. Other agencies assisted Devine PD 13 times.
Thirteen arrests were made, and 34 tickets and 26 warnings were issued.
Calls included 110 for Animal Control; 43 for talk to officer; 38 for suspicious activity; 34 for traffic complaints; 23 for welfare concern; 22 for disturbance; 17 each for assisting the public and assisting City Hall; 16 for theft; 15 apiece for alarms and school resource officer calls; 14 each for informational reports and minor accidents; 13 for escorts; 12 for assisting other agencies; 11 miscellaneous; 9 for assist agency report; 7 for civil matters; 6 for patrol-bys; 5 for criminal trespass/info; 4 each for burglary, fraud, assisting Devine EMS, and violations of City Ordinance; 3 each for assault, found property, and traffic violations; 2 each for assisting Public Works, criminal mischief, assisting the Devine VFD, natural deaths, major accidents, public relations, family violence notice issuance, and sex offender registration; and 1 each for emergency warning service, drunkenness, found contraband, and emergency detention.
The 13 arrests included 4 for theft; 3 for driving while license invalid; 2 each for assault and assault – family violence; and 1 each for warrant service and drunkenness.
Citations included 6 for violation of City ordinance – running at large; 5 for parking violations; 3 each for driving while license invalid and no valid driver’s license; and 2 each for disregarding red light, speeding, failure to maintain financial responsibility, theft less than $100, and Class C assault.
Animal Control
Animal Control received 110 calls during the month, including 87 dispatched; 10 animal adoption; 9 self-initiated calls, 3 animal euthanizations; and 1 animal bite report.
One-hundred calls were handled by Animal Control officers, while 10 were handled by police officers when Animal Control officers were off-duty.
Thirty-two animals were adopted and five were euthanized.
Six citations were issued for animal violations.
Municipal Court
There were 1,541 traffic cases pending at the first of the month, including 268 active cases and 1,273 inactive cases. There were also 1,126 non-traffic cases, including 309 active and 817 inactive.
Three-hundred and ten traffic and 324 non-traffic cases were on the docket.
Thirty-five traffic and 10 non-traffic cases were disposed, and two traffic cases were placed on inactive status.
At the end of the month, 1,532 traffic cases remained pending, including 273 active and 1,259 non-active cases. Additionally, 1,128 non-traffic cases remained pending, including 314 active and 814 inactive.
Four active civil cases remained pending at the end of the month, and one juvenile transportation code case was filed.
One case was fully satisfied by community service.
Of the $12,011.60 in fines and court costs collected, $8,416.06 was kept by the City and $3,595.54 was remitted to the State.
Driscoll Public Library
A total of 544 library materials were checked out in March while the library remained closed to the public due to COVID-19. Curbside printing and fax services were used 80 times.
In addition to being closed to the public, interlibrary loans, Preschool Story Time, and all other programs and services remained suspended.
A Library Board meeting was held on March 10, and members Kelli Maxwell, Hap Squires, Grace “Desi” McElwee, Lee Davis, and Marly Davis (this reporter) were sworn in for another term.
Head Librarian Debi DuBose reported that the library recently received two grants. One grant digitized the library’s microfilm archive of back issues of The Devine News from 1901 to 1999, while the other was a CARES Act grant that will reimburse the City for the cost of some of the COVID-related improvements made in the library for the protection of patrons and staff.
Library Aide Stacy Pyron submitted her resignation and left her position after four years with the City. Pyron was instrumental in increasing teen and children’s programming at the library and will be greatly missed.
DuBose spoke with staff at the Hondo, Pearsall, and Pleasanton public libraries regarding their use of social media for the promotion of library events and live streaming of Story Times. All of the libraries have been using social media for over five years without negative feedback.
The City of Devine municipal government is still without any social media presence despite City Council approving a social media policy in August 2020 (see “Council approves social media policy for members, employees” in the August 26, 2020 edition of The Devine News), and several Council members themselves maintaining active political Facebook pages.
By Marly Davis
Staff Writer