By Pete Vasquez
Pvasquez@cherryroad.com

According to recent statistics from the Alice Police Department (APD) home burglaries in the city have dropped to an all-time low. It marks a remarkable effort from both law enforcement and residents the city has seen a significant reduction in break-ins with home burglaries decreasing from previous years.

“Credit to the officers. As a city, as a county we’re all headed down the same path. We’re now meeting with our District Attorney (DA) and are trying to get these people that are committing crimes off the streets and you’re going to start to notice a big difference,” said Chief Garcia.

The department used to document 23 home burglaries a month, In February the department was down to two and in March there are none. The Chief attributes this to the department’s work their putting in but also the DA working with the APD to achieve the goals they have set out.

Despite the success, Chief Garcia emphasized that the police department will continue to work diligently to keep burglary rates low. “We’re not stopping here. We’ll continue to innovate, collaborate with the community, and use data to ensure that our neighborhoods remain safe,” said the chief. “Our goal is to prevent crime before it happens, and we’re committed to making this trend a permanent one.”

The APD has also proudly unveiled a new renovated main entrance to its building. A significant improvement designed to enhance functionality and security for officers and visitors. Chief of Police Eden Garcia is excited about it.

“We’ve worked hard on it. I was told we would never achieve this when I got hired. That it had been tried many times but when you have perseverance and great group of people working beside you, your able to achieve. These are small steps for us,” said the Chief. “We received a grant, and our city manager worked with us to get this started. We were able to remodel the front and soon we will have a new dispatch center moving to the front. With another grant and no cost to our taxpayers we’ll be able to put in a brand-new radio system into that dispatch center. We’ve been very instrumental in getting grants thanks to lieutenant Saenz and Ms. Reeves who passed away helped us achieve grants, so we keep going,” he said.

The chief said the office of Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz has also been a key into the upgrades with grants because they want to bring the department up to standards. They are trying to move on and better themselves for the future.