Gonzales becomes La Salle’s first female chief deputy

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La Salle County Chief Deputy Elvira Gonzales

Born and raised in La Salle County and spending her entire law enforcement career in service to her own community, Elvira Gonzales made history last week upon being named the first female chief deputy for the sheriff’s office.
Gonzales takes the position left vacant at the end of the last administration in 2021, although an officer held the position of under-sheriff for a portion of the current administration.
Sheriff Anthony Zertuche made the announcement of Gonzales’ promotion from the rank of captain last week; the county’s new chief deputy took office Wednesday, April 10.
Gonzales is a 1998 graduate of Cotulla High School and earned her peace officer license in 2004 after attending the Southwest Texas Junior College Law Enforcement Academy, which had a satellite campus in Cotulla at the time. She has served the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office for the past 19 years. Her specialty training includes crime prevention, crime scene investigation, burglary and robbery investigation, sex offender compliance enforcement, child abuse investigation, and active shooter response, and she is a certified field training officer for newly licensed deputies. She earned her master peace officer certification earlier this year.
Her responsibilities as chief deputy for La Salle County will build on those she has carried out as captain, including supervision of all the county’s school resource officers, administration for and supervision of patrol deputies, reporting crime statistics to federal agencies, conducting special narcotics investigations, and overseeing the county’s emergency dispatch operations. She will also take on additional administrative duties and help coordinate law enforcement efforts and special operations between La Salle County and its neighboring agencies.
“I’m excited to take on this responsibility,” Gonzales said last week. “This position gives me an opportunity to put my many years of training and experience to full use in service to my community.
“I hope to continue building the community relations we have and to promote community policing,” the chief deputy said of her goals for the position. “We have a lot to offer the people we serve, and there are many areas where we can strengthen the bond we have with the people of La Salle County, especially the bond we have with the school district.”
Gonzales’ family is heavily involved in law enforcement, as husband Richard is a former La Salle County officer who now serves the Frio County Sheriff’s Office, and daughter Katrina joined the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office as a patrol deputy last year.
The chief deputy and her husband live in Cotulla and have six children, ages eight through 24.