8/7/2014
For the first time in Rio Grande City history police officers can now make Driving While Intoxicated (DWI's) arrests without the assistance of the Department of Public Safety (DPS).
"Accidents happen everywhere but when you mix alcohol into that equation is becomes dangerous," Assistant Chief Noe Castillo said.
Castillo said the city is now cracking down on drunk driving which means specialized training for the departments 25 police officers.
Three officers completed training last month and conducted six DWI arrests in July.
"In the past DPS has been great, they've been able to help us out with the process," Castillo said.
Before now, Rio Grande City police officers were not DWI certified and had to depend on assistance from state troopers.
But troopers are not always available meaning some drunk drivers got charged with a smaller crime.
"We would actually have to give them a P.I. (Public Intoxication) when they stopped them," Castillo said.
It's a class C misdemeanor instead of a DWI which involves the driver losing their license and a hefty amount of fines.
Noe one in is more excited about the change than the city's mayor, Ruben Villarreal.
"We don't want people behind the wheel when they've been drinking too much," he said.
Villarreal said the city has been pushing to certify officers for nine months but the focus changed from certifying officers to focusing on the immigration crisis.
"When the immigration crunch came I remember talking to our police chief and assistant chief and they said what do we do I said back burner it, we don't have the resources to handle both," Villarreal said.
Now, with the increase in DPS troopers and the Nation Guard coming to the area, Mayor Villarreal said police are getting back to the basics.
"We can do community policing and that's exactly, we want to implement a strong DWI program," Villarreal said. "Not to catch people, but to discourage people from using bad judgment."
A DWI certified police officers will be on every shift starting the weekend of August 16th.
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