Pearsall police chief begins sponsorship program to attract new applicants

By Breyana Segura - Chief Staff Writer | February 21, 2024

Pearsall Police Chief Daniel Flores is optimistic that the department is headed in the right direction after the launch of a sponsorship program last month.
Flores said the department has developed a sponsorship program that will assist the agency in hiring interested applicants.
“With the growing number of departments competing to hire officers, we have decided to create a path for interested citizens and others alike to become Pearsall police officers,” Flores said.
The police chief said the sponsorship program mimics programs commonly found in larger agencies where persons are employed and paid by the city to attend a law enforcement academy and ultimately transition into the position of a licensed peace officer.
“We hope this endeavor attracts those in our community to consider beginning a career in law enforcement and making a difference here locally,” Flores said.
“We are trying the sponsorship program and it is working out fantastic,” the police chief said during a Tuesday, February 13 meeting. “We have had five people, who are local, participating. On Monday, four people took a written examination and a PT test and it looks good.”
The police chief provided department statistics for the 2023 calendar year. There were 905 offenses generated from 721 calls, which equated to an average of 75 offenses per month, according to Flores.
In 2023, the department made 310 arrests; wrote 2,128 incident reports; issued 1,118 citations; gave 1,948 warnings; completed 806 security checks; and took 5,438 calls for service.
“This is everything from a dog barking to aggravated assault,” Flores said. “It is going to be busy. In my opinion the town is a lot safer than when I started in 2011. The type of crime back then is different from what we have now; it is a different type of crime. We have a theft issue, a drug issue that is what we are dealing with now. There is a problem.”
However, according to Flores the department is not suffering from officers leaving their jobs in Pearsall.
“We do not have a retention problem,” the police chief said. “We cannot hire them fast enough.”
There are currently six vacancies for police officers at the department.
In January, the department handled 68 offenses; arrested 28 people; wrote 111 incident reports; issued 128 citations; gave 167 warnings; completed 81 security checks; and received 502 calls for service.