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Uniformed Services Division

     

 

Patrol 

The Patrol division is divided into three shifts, each shift consisting of approximately 16 officers, two sergeants, and one Lieutenant. Officers are responsible for maintaining law and order, for preventing crime, and for protecting life and property. Officers make arrests for Federal and State Laws as well as City ordinances. A Captain supervises the Uniform Patrol Division and is also in charge of the Communications Center, which is made up of 15 civilian employees.


SWAT 

       

The Harlingen SWAT team consists of fifteen officers. Members of the team have attended training throughout the state. SWAT officers train 16 hours per month. Training consists of physical conditioning, building searches, firearms training, hostage & barricaded person training, bus and vehicle assault training, negotiation training, use of less lethal weapons training, barricaded shooting team movement training, rapid shooting team movement drills, and rappelling. Each member is given a position on the team. The team is divided into the Entry team, Perimeter team, Sniper team, and Negotiation team. The Harlingen SWAT team is a member of the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association. Selection to the team requires applicants to pass a physical and fitness test; the applicant will then be interviewed by a board made up of SWAT team leaders, and the Chief or Assistant Chief of Police.

      

Special Services Unit 

The Special Services Unit is supervised by Sergeant John Parrish and falls under the direction of the Uniform Division Captain. There are currently 10 officers assigned to the division. The Special Services Division consists of eleven different areas; Traffic Division, Hit-N-Run Investigation, Substance Abuse Violence Education (S.A.V.E.), School Resource Officers, ATV Patrol, City Permits, Community Resource Ofier (CRO), Fleet Maintenance, Municipal Court Bailiff, and School Crossing Guards.
 

ATV Park Patrol / City Permits 

Officer Orlando Gonzales is the Departments ATV Patrol Officer. He mainly patrols the Hike-and-Bike Trail along the Arroyo Colorado. Officer Gonzales is also responsible for performing background checks for those seeking city permits or Taxi Drivers.

Fleet Maintenance School Crossing Guards 

Officer Orlando Gonzales organizes the Fleet Maintenance for the Department and oversees the School Crossing Guards. Officer Sanchez makes sure the Department's units are receiving necessary repairs, and arranges the outfitting of new police cars for our fleet.

Municipal Court Bailiff 

The Municipal Court Bailiff is Officer Richard Camacho. Officer Camacho keeps order in the court and serves subpoenas to citizens and officers.

Community Resource Officer 

Officer Saul Castillo is the CRO for the Department. He works out of the La Placita sub-station and helps organize community coalitions like Neighborhood Watch groups.

 

 

School Programs 

Substance Abuse Violence Education
School Resource Officers
Better Kids * Better Harlingen 

S.A.V.E., SRO's and BK*BH are all done in conjunction with the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. 

Our current SAVE Officer is Frank Sojak.  He teaches drug and violence prevention programs to elementary schools. We have two School Resource Officers, Jorge Salinas and Antonio Serna. The SRO's act as a liaison between the schools and the Police Department.

Traffic Unit - Hit & Run Investigations

Two officers make up the Traffic Unit. They are the Hit-N-Run and accident investigators for the Department. In addition, they perform escorts for building movers, and are the operators of "Officer Happy" for pubic presentations.

Communication Center 

The Communications Center has a total of 16 Public Safety Communications Officers and 3 Communications Supervisors and is supervised by the Communications Manager. The Harlingen Communications Center is the primary PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) for the City of Harlingen and is responsible for answering emergency and non-emergency phone calls along with radio dispatching for both the Police and Fire Department. All emergency medicals calls are forwarded to the Harlingen Emergency Medical Services. This is a 24 hour/7 day operation and the staff is always ready to serve.

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