Here is your weekly report from Lytle P.D., straight from the desk of Chief Richey Priest (for whatever that is worth). Your officers responded to 51 calls for service last week and conducted 79 traffic stops. Of those 79 stops, 70 resulted in a citation and 9 were either verbal or written warnings.
Property Crimes: Only 1 reported, a complainant reported her Apple iPhone and watch were taken by a friend. It involved a dispute over an unpaid debt. The property was recovered.
Arrests: Officers made 3 arrests last week. #1 – While Ofc. L. Diaz was investigating a hit-run accident, he determined a female witness had a felony warrant. She was wanted out of Atascosa Co. on an Evading Arrest w/MV. #2 – Ofc. J. Cortez conducted a traffic stop for a reckless driver and arrested the male driver for D.W.I. #3 – Ofc. J. Cortez, assisted by Ofc. L. Diaz was dispatched to the Sonic Drive-In for a male asleep behind the wheel in the drive-thru. He was arrested for D.W.I.
Last Monday, Sgt. David Lopez and I headed out to Forth Worth for the Annual Texas Police Chief’s Association Conf. We had an event filled 2 and ½ days. There were some great speakers and topics covered. So, what is big on the minds of Texas Police Chiefs? Well, recruiting and retention of police officers is a big topic, not only in Texas but in the rest of the country as well. We also spent time with vendors and catching up on the latest and greatest advancements in law enforcement. Some local area chiefs we ran into up there included Chief Kohler from Castroville, Chief Soza from Hondo, Chief Delgado from Dilley (who was also a presenter), and Chief Ronald Sanchez and his crew from Pleasanton.
The breakfast buffet at the Omni was $28 a person, so Sgt. Lopez and I hit a Waffle House. It was his first time at a Waffle House, and that alone would make the trip memorable. Oh my, the look in David’s eyes when I ordered double hashbrowns (still only .50 extra) with my order.
I even got my dad to meet us and buy lunch one day, he drove over from Paris. I tried to borrow some money from him, but he said “Friend, I’m broke” as he drove off in his new pickup. I have been hearing that for as long as I can remember. Here is a little family trivia, I do not have a lot, so I must dig deep but here we go: My dad played on the locally “famous” 1964 Canton Eagle Football team (he was #72). They went undefeated and were not scored on in all 10 regular season games.
Sadly, I learned that retired Atascosa Co. Sheriff Tommy Williams passed away over the weekend. He was a legend and he helped me tremendously when I first became the chief back in late 1999.
I have been told about 200 kids attended the Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. It was another success; the weather was great.
The next big city event will be the fireworks show on July 4th! I will have more details in the future. I enjoyed the addition of the food trucks at the event last year. While I don’t seek out food trucks, I find them irresistible when they are right in front of me.