by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Uvalde Police Chief Homer Delgado attended the Thursday, April 18th, Rotary Club of Uvalde weekly meeting and spoke on the sweeping changes he is planning on implementing as the City’s new head of the Uvalde Police Department.
“This is actually my first speaking arrangement as Chief of Police.” Degado said.
“I’ve been here for about 11 months. I was brought in to be the Assistant Police Chief to assist with some of the changes and improvements we were hoping to make at the department,” He continued saying,
“Given the opportunity, there is no place I’d rather be.”
After the Robb event, I actually got here that night. I was Chief in Dilley Texas which is about 60 miles south. I got here after the event had finished and I didn’t leave for about a month.”
“I brought in officers from all over the state which we found out that it has never happened in the history of the State of Texas; an operation that large from that many different agencies. We even had some from Oklahoma. A lot of us left our emotions here with the people of Uvalde because we came to help but we had some much support from the community. People were visiting us, feeding us, and leaving us notes that we left with more emotionally then when we got here,” he said.
“We had people going back to their agencies, improving their agencies,”
Degado who resides in Hondo said he currently spends much of the week in Uvalde staying at the Uvalde EMS facility most of the week between the times he goes back home.
One of the changes for the Uvalde Police Department he has on his list is updating the policies of the department aligning them with the The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) best practices. He stated the current policies in place have not been updated since 2013.
He went on to say that while it has been difficult recruiting new officers to the department, he and the Uvalde Police Department are actively working with students attending SWTJC Law Enforcement Academy through a program where candidate students can be paid and then later hired in the department once they pass their exams.
Delgado said that he has been given permission to proactively seek out and recruit qualified officers with skills and abilities that would benefit the department.
As Chief of Police, he said one of his goals is to place officers in roles they are best suited for within the department where they can excel.
He indicated that the changes he foresees will be so sweeping there may be existing officers that decide that it’s not for them. He said in that case, we will celebrate the accomplishments each of these officers had made within the department and wish them the best going forward leaving the department.
He indicated one of his goals is to make the Uvalde Police Department an example for best practices within the state.
