SAN ANTONIO - A Bexar County Sheriff's deputy is on unpaid administrative leave for a DWI arrest. Officials said that early Tuesday morning Deputy Heriberto Rivera drove into a concrete barrier as police pulled him over.

• Deputy Heriberto Rivera arrested Monday on suspicion of DWI
• As of December 11, 23 Bexar County deputies arrested in 2018
• Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar focused on prevention programs

Officers found drug paraphernalia inside his vehicle. Rivera is facing a state felony charge of possession of a controlled substance under one gram, along with the DWI charge.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar says if the drug tests come back positive, he will be fired immediately.

"What I can tell you about this off-duty deputy is that he's 25 years of age, he has been with the sheriff's [office] approximately 5 and half years, and he works in patrol, East Patrol," Salazar said. 

Rivera is the 23rd Bexar County deputy to be arrested this year. The number might seem high, but Salazar says it isn't uncommon, and he's not shying away from it.

"Since 2009, which is as far back as we can check numbers, we've been in the double digits for arrests of deputies. Every year since 2009. Now certainly that number has gone a bit higher this year and I'll say it, it's because of the proactive approach we've taken," Salazar said.

Salazar says part of that approach was building the Public Integrity Unit and assigning deputies to an FBI task force.

"I'm actually doubling down on those efforts, I'll be assigning more deputies to that task force. That task force and a couple of the arrests that have taken place this year were in furtherance of a sting operation we set up in the jail here. I can tell you those sting operations are going to continue," he said.

Next month, the office will add one more key player to the team.

"Dr. Brandi Burque from the San Antonio Police Department will be joining us in January 2019 and she will be our first ever department psychologist," said Salazar.

Organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous and Mothers Against Drunk Driving are also making appearances inside BCSO.

"Do I believe the vast majority of my deputies have a drinking problem? No I don't," Salazar said.

In the meantime, Salazar says he wants his message to be loud and clear.

"This doesn't make me happy to have to do this, but it's necessary. And it's not a very subtle point I'm trying to drive home. Look, if you drink and you drive you'll go to jail and you will be terminated as soon as I'm able to do it," Salazar said.