SEGUIN, Texas — The Seguin Police Department aims to cut down on crime, especially when it comes to narcotics. That’s why it's taken to Facebook to get its message across.

What You Need To Know

  • Seguin, Texas, has experienced a lot of growth in recent years, and along with that has come an uptick in crime

  • Police there are heavily focused on eliminating drug trafficking, specifically narcotics 

  • A recent, tongue-in-cheek Facebook post from the department encourages drug dealers to turn one another in 

  • The department's Narcotics Task Force has been nationally recognized 

 

“We were definitely surprised by the attention that it did get, but we were happy that [the] majority of it was positive and a lot of people did see the humor side in it,” said Officer Sarah Wallace. 

Officer Wallace said the social media post encourages criminals to turn in the competition. The idea behind it is to get the word out about their tip line, with which folks can remain anonymous and work together to get drugs out of the city.

 

“Our Narcotics Task Force won the Narcotics Task Force of the year, which is a really prestigious award to win in Texas,” said Officer Wallace.

Officer Wallace showed what she can of where the narcotics officers, who are all undercover, spend their time getting ready to hit the streets.

“This is the patrol room right here, and that’s some of their equipment. Right here is where we weigh everything. So they’re going to weigh it and photograph it right here,” said Officer Wallace.

She also showed a map of the city of Seguin.

“We get the most traffic towards the center here. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a hot spot, but we’re going to get more people going through the center as well as I-10. We’re really adding more and more people on the outskirts. So I’m sure the more people we add, you’ll see crime spread out instead of just being so condensed in the center there,” said Officer Wallace.

Someone who thinks the Facebook post is a good idea is Seguin resident Daniel Bump.

“It brings attention to the problem in a manner that sticks in your mind. When I heard it, I thought, oh that is kinda funny,” said Bump.

He has called Seguin home for about 20 years now. Recently, he’s noticed a major change to the once sleepy town.

“It really is a nice quiet place to live. Just here lately, we’ve had a lot of growth. Obviously that brings issues that somebody who’s been here for 20 years is not used to,” said Bump.

Issues just like an increase in crime.

“You know when you have narcotics, it just brings other crime right along with that,” said Bump.

That’s exactly what Officer Wallace echoes.

“In July, we experienced an increase in our patrols making narcotics related arrests. Narcotics consisted of 33% of the arrests. So to give you an idea, the second one was public intoxication at 25%,” said Officer Wallace.

She talked about one of the drugs they are seeing a lot of.

“Meth. Meth is, I would say, is a big one. And we of course see marijuana. But I would say meth is definitely one of the heavier ones going through the city,” said Officer Wallace.

Bump hopes this new campaign will help get the drugs off the streets.

“If we can put even a small dent in that, I think that’s very important. When you get society helping out instead of just having it all in the hands of law enforcement, I think that’s the key to solving the problems we have in this world today,” said Bump.

Officer Wallace said on average, the Seguin Police Department’s tip line gets anywhere from five to 10 calls each week.