Harlingen police boost patrols up to 40%; targeting ‘hot zones’

HARLINGEN — Facing steady growth here, the police department is nearly doubling patrols along hot stops, aiming to crack down on crime and car crashes across town.

Taking some of the department’s biggest steps in years, interim Police Chief Alfredo Alvear is boosting patrols from about 20% to 40%.

“It was overdue — the numbers are there to support what we’re doing,” he said, declining to disclose the number of patrol cars on the road.

But the department staffing 144 officers, which for years ran about eight squad cars per shift, has markedly increased its number of patrol units while bolstering levels from about Thursday to Saturday.

“As our population’s going up, we need more officers on the streets,” Sgt. Larry Moore, the department’s spokesman, said.

From from 2010 to 2020, Census figures show the city’s population grew about 11%.

“We’ve got more people coming to the city to work,” Moore said. “We’ve got to move with the times.”

Within the department, officials are taking a “data-driven approach to crime and traffic safety,” said Alvear, who’s overseeing operations following former Police Chief Michael Kester’s retirement last month.

“It’s a strategy based on analyzing accidents and crime in a city, creating a map where you overlay that data and you create hot zones,” he said in an interview. “We employ the police units based on that information. We try to reduce crime, accidents and fear of crime in our community.”

On the department’s map, hot zones include the city’s main shopping district stretching from Walmart to Academy Sports and Outdoors to H-E-B, Moore said, adding patrols are focusing on curbing crimes such as shoplifting, thefts and auto burglaries.

“There’s a correlation between property theft and drug use,” Alvear said. “People steal things to support a drug addiction. That’s the goal of a lot of thefts — to support drug habits.”

Across town, officials are targeting patrols along the city’s central section, a hot zone running from downtown to the areas stretching across East Monroe and East Jackson Avenues to Seventh and F Streets, Moore said.

“We concentrate on these areas,” he said. “We have high visibility, going up and down the streets.”

Along the city’s southern edge, officials are boosting patrols in the shopping district, focusing on a section running from the Lowe’s and Home Depot areas to Harlingen Medical Center, Moore said.

“We make these larger zones to cover more areas,” he said. “We want officers all over the city. We want visibility.”

Along the city’s major intersections like Ed Carey Drive and Business 77, officials are also increasing patrols, Moore said.

“We look at the crashes in the city and we look at where these crashes occur,” he said. “We monitor traffic, slowing people down. We want the presence of our officers out there to make them aware and try to lower the number of crashes.”

Last weekend, officials teamed up with the Texas Department of Public Safety to conduct an operation aimed at cracking down on drunk drivers, Alvear said.

The operation netting four drunk drivers also led to an arrest for possession of a controlled substance and another for marijuana possession while officers made 89 traffic stops, he said.

As part of the department’s focus, officials are working with state troopers and other agencies, Alvear said.

“I’m reaching out to other agencies to collaborate, whether it’s law enforcement or social services,” he said.

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