Police department reports decrease in calls; none arrested in warrant round-up

By Breyana Segura - Chief Staff Writer | October 16, 2024

Despite city councilors’ concerns with patrol officers’ overtime, Pearsall Police Chief Police Daniel Flores said last week that his department was ready to move forward with the warrant round-up scheduled for Friday, October 11.
The city announced last month that it would exercise a round-up of all those listed as wanted on arrest warrants.
Councilor Sonia Hernandez said she had concerns over the one-day warrant round-up placing stress on the officers’ health.
“I do not want the officers to be working more than they are supposed to be,” Hernandez said. “They will get tired and not get enough sleep.”
The police chief acknowledged a large amount of overtime in the previous month but said the warrant round-up would not affect the officers’ working hours.
The police department reported this week that there were no arrests made in the warrant round-up on Oct. 11.
Councilors also questioned the availability of jail space after Flores said staff at the county jail did not accept eight arrestees during September.
According to the report by the police chief, nearly all eight of those rejected by jail staff were individuals wanted on warrants.
“There are holding cells those are different from the jail,” Mayor Ben Briscoe said. “That is where those picked up on warrants will be held.”
Flores noted in a report on monthly statistics that the department’s numbers for service calls plummeted during September.
According to the police chief’s report, the department handled 60 offenses, arrested 26 individuals, wrote 224 incident reports, issued 168 citations, gave 233 warnings, conducted 87 security checks, and answered 429 calls for service.
“Have you seen a decrease in crime from six months ago?” Councilor James Leal asked.
“It is hard to judge; went down by one hundred,” Flores said. “I do not know if people are not calling or if there is less crime or if they see the officers out there.”
The police chief said the department received ten new felony cases during September and his administration has 12 cases ready for submission to the district attorney’s office.
“On the misdemeanor cases, I do not have an exact number but we are averaging fifty to seventy cases that we are receiving per month,” Flores said. “We submitted twenty-nine cases to the county attorney in September.”
Patrol officers seized six grams of methamphetamine, less than an ounce of marijuana and one gram of heroin last month.
The department reported that it had filled 19 of 22 officer positions as of Oct. 8.