Tidbits

Well we had a “whopping” 24 calls last week, which has to be close to an all-time low. I hope this is not the calm before the summer storm. Normally our summers are more “relaxed.” If things don’t pick up then perhaps it is a sign that I am on my way to single handedly eliminating the need for a police force. I would then be able to go to other communities and eliminate their crime too. It is really too early to tell though. One thing I haven’t eliminated is the traffic that rolls through our community and the complaints that come with it, and I am not even talking about Interstate 35. All this traffic is a sign of a “booming” little town; it just comes with the territory. This past week officers filed 92 cases with the municipal court, about a 1/3 of those were for speeding. We are still addressing the issue of vehicles stopping on the railroad tracks; I see a lot of it. This happens especially on FM 2790 and Main St. as traffic backs up, it is very dangerous as trains roll through here frequently. Some people complain about the railroad but they built this country and helped create many towns like Lytle. The tracks were laid in Lytle in the early 1880s and I’m fairly certain that Ms. Campa at City Hall is the one who issued the permit for them.
We had “Zero” trips to the county jails (No custodial arrests), but we did issue one citation for possession of drug paraphernalia. We had two crimes reported, one a debit card abuse and the other the theft of prescription medication. On both of those we have suspects identified so it’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together and filing the charges.
We have two new members on the city council now and it is an awfully exciting time. I have been working with the same city council for the past 7 years so some change will do me good, it is easy to get complacent. I will miss Ward Sanders and Kevin Keith, both were very progressive minded and are responsible for many improvements in our community. I welcome Jamie Dahler and Ruben Gonzalez, both will be a great addition to our body of elected city leaders. If you have never visited one of our city council meetings you should think about it, but I’ll warn you – If you want to see arguing and “Jerry Springer” behavior go somewhere else. Our meetings most likely won’t ever make it on YouTube. One positive piece of feedback I often get is that my “Chief’s Report” is near the very end so you can avoid my rambling and still catch the important stuff. I have been told that I must think I get paid by the word, if I got paid by the word or the pound I’d be rolling in the dough.