Last week your Lytle PD officers handled 57 calls for service and conducted 86 traffic stops. Officers issued 75 citations with 11 warnings.
Arrests: Officers only had one arrest last week. Ofc. J. Cortez stopped a vehicle on Main St. for speeding and determined the driver to be intoxicated. He was arrested for DWI. He was booked into the Atascosa Co. Jail.
Property Crimes (5 reported): #1 – A mini-storage unit on S. Somerset St. was burglarized. The victim reported that 5 inflatable Halloween decorations were taken, valued at $500. #2 – The construction company doing site work on the Rosewood Subdivision (on FM 2790) reported a $50,000 Caterpillar wheel loader was taken. They were tracking it on GPS, which was found abandoned on Smith Road in Bexar Co. before we could even finish the report. #3 – A person staying at the hotel reported that a window to their vehicle was broken out, and nothing was missing from inside. #4 – A business owner in the 15000 blk. of Main St. reported that a security light was “shot” out. #5 – Officers observed a vehicle with two open doors on Houston St. Contact was made with the owner, who stated a “junk box” was taken and they didn’t want to file any report. I love it when criminals steal worthless items.
In other news …. It looks like the Adoption event at the Lytle Animal Care and Control center was a success. It appears that 7 dogs and 1 cat found new homes! One dog also found a foster home as well. I stopped by the event for a few minutes and saw that our city animal control staff as well as volunteers from Lytle Animal Allies were really busy answering questions and showcasing the animals. They had a bake sale going on too. I was able to resist, but Sgt. David Lopez opted for a brownie.
Hit and run! On Friday night, Ofc. Luis Diaz was patrolling Live Oak St. when out of nowhere a deer tried to jump over the hood of our police Dodge Charger. Luis was surprised, to say the least, the dashcam didn’t record what he said, that’s probably a good thing. His windshield was busted out but other than that there was no damage! The deer just slid across the hood and kept on going. We feel that was just a random incident, we have no credible information to lead us to believe that this was a planned attack on a police vehicle by members of DAPA (Deer Anti-Police Association).
Last Wednesday I celebrated my 23rd wedding anniversary! My wife has been on this police chief journey with me for a long time. That journey has included; lots of missed plans because of work emergencies, tons of phone calls that roll in 24/7, and of course the general stress of this type of work. My kids have been along for a lot of the ride as well and they too have stories to tell. I am blessed to be married to a strong Christian woman who has done more than her share to take care of my family while I am trying to take care of Lytle.
I worked this weekend and it sure was nice to see a lot of people outside, the weather was really nice. During the heat of the summer, people stayed inside. You could drive down street after street and the only people you would see, if you were lucky, was somebody going from their vehicle to the house at a brisk pace. It was like we enacted a daytime, severe heat curfew and included a provision prohibiting rain.