Robberies expected to double in San Juan

June 28, 2008 - 7:46PM
Sean Gaffney

SAN JUAN -- Youngsters suspected of pillaging local businesses for beer, money and cigarettes have this city on pace to log more than double the number of last year's robberies.

But while police this year expect to respond to nearly 10,000 more calls overall than they did in 2007, crimes other than robbery are expected to rise only slightly, according to preliminary statistics from the San Juan Police Department.

Although troubling for city officials, some said the increased demand for service was indicative of a wider theme: the pains of growth.

"We're changing. We're becoming a big, popular area," said Tony Garza, San Juan's police chief and acting city manager. "We're going to see a lot more of these crimes."

Since 2000, the city's population has grown from about 26,000 to about 35,000, and dozens of new businesses have opened, according to the 2000 U.S. census and data from the San Juan Economic Development Corp.

Assaults and vehicle burglaries will probably rise the most, with the exception of robbery, according to the statistics.

"We can't think like a small department anymore," said Rolando Garcia, a San Juan police investigator and department spokesman.

In 2007 the department made a concerted effort to curb burglaries, which were plaguing the city, Garza said. While the operations were successful, the latest statistics suggest the number of burglaries of homes and other buildings will probably be about the same this year.

Officials said the relatively stable level of crime is a testament to the work of an overburdened police department that has managed to keep it in check even though their ranks have not kept pace with the growth.

Across the Rio Grande Valley, police departments average about 1.7 sworn officers per 1,000 residents, Garza said. In San Juan, the ratio is 1.08 per thousand.

Garza wants to hire at least an additional 36 officers.

"We do what we can with our budget," he said. "I like to think that (our officers are) very dynamic. I can plug them in anywhere, because they have all the training."

The challenge of growing the ranks is compounded by the loss of officers to federal and state agencies, such as the U.S. Border Patrol, which recruit aggressively and offer better wages and benefits.

The Border Patrol and the Texas Department of Public Safety offer starting salaries as high as $45,000 per year. San Juan offers a starting salary close to $32,000 a year.

"We train these guys, and you hire them, and then when they're getting ready to get out on their own, they leave somewhere else," Garza said "We're looking to improve on that. We want to improve on the benefits to be able to give them a better incentive pay package."

But staffing is only part of the problem of keeping up with the city's growth.

If Garza is to grow the ranks, the department will need a new building to accommodate the additional officers.

At the current San Juan police station at 2301 N. Raul Longoria Road, investigators share tiny, cramped offices, and filing cabinets divide already small quarters. Within a year of its construction in 1995, officials said, the department had already outgrown the building.

But as the department responds to more calls, officials put their hope in a new city government led by 29-year-old Mayor Pedro Contreras.

Contreras is optimistic his administration will be able to hire additional officers and come up with funding for a new station. After years of financial problems, San Juan has been steadily improving its fiscal situation.

"I don't think we really have a choice," Contreras said about increasing police finances. "With more growth comes more responsibility, and public safety is one of our top priorities and will always be a top priority."