The Corpus Christi Police Department, Corpus Christi Fire Department, and Driscoll Children’s Hospital received a load of stuffed animals from high schools from all over Texas on Friday at the DECA state conference at the American Bank Center.

The Distributive Educational Clubs of America (DECA) organization had a state conference in Corpus Christi this past week. The purpose of DECA is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges. The participating schools raised money to buy and construct stuffed animals from the “Build A Bear” company for the purpose to donate the bears to the Corpus Christi Police Department, the Corpus Christi Fire Department, and to Driscoll Children’s Hospital.

The bears were staged at the American Bank Center with a fire truck, police patrol car, and an ambulance while a representative from the Police Department, Fire Department, and Driscoll Children’s Hospital delivered a message of gratitude to the students for the generous donation.

The Corpus Christi Police Department received 100 bears and intend to use them to provide comfort to victims of traumatic events. This donation will offer comfort directly to victims of traumatic events by police.The Corpus Christi Police Department thanks the DECA organization for their generous donation and kind offer to help members of our community who need comfort most.

The Corpus Christi Police Awards Banquet was held at Yorktown Baptist Church Thursday night.  The Master of Ceremonies was Police Captain David Cook.  Corpus Christi Police Chief Floyd Simpson and his assistant chiefs Mike Markle and J.V. Garcia presented a variety of citations to employees of the Corpus Christi Police Department for outstanding performance.

Corpus Christi Police Chief, Floyd Simpson said, “This is a great time and a great opportunity for us to recognize the meritorious conduct of members of our police department throughout 2012”.

Certificates of Merit were awarded to Senior Officers Rodney Cantu, Brenda Garza, Emily Perez, and John Shultz.

Life Saving Awards were presented to Lieutenant Phillip Bintliff, Senior Officers Gracie Luna, Jason Tello, Adam Thurman, Armando Vasquez, Luis Rodriguez, Thomas Bauer, Ross Richards, Brandon Cordell, and Officer Alan Miller.

The Police Shield was awarded to Senior Officer Douglas Rush.

Police Captain Russell Sherman was awarded the Medal of Valor.

Glenn Ellen Dreggors was named the Volunteer of the year.

Lieutenant David Kureska was named Supervisor of the year, and Detective Richard L. Garcia was recognized as the Investigator of the year.

Janice Barrera was the Police Employee of the year.

Senior Officer Javier Cantu was awarded Officer of the Year.

This week the Corpus Christi Police Department received the first order of cars that will be rotated into patrol. The Ford Motor Company will no longer manufacture the Crown Victoria model cars and the Corpus Christi Police Department will replace the sedans with the Ford Police Interceptor. The fleet of patrol cars does not increase, these vehicles replace others which are rotated out of the Police inventory because of the normal wear and tear of the equipment.

The Police Interceptor is a five passenger sedan with a 3.7 liter V6 engine and 6 speed automatic transmission. The new cars are a white exterior with black cloth and vinyl interior.

Some of the features of this vehicle are 18 inch steel wheels, a full size 18 inch spare tire, underbody deflector plate, key locks for the driver door, truck, and passenger door, black vinyl floor covering, tilt and telescoping steering column, all wheel drive system, and dual spotlights. Some features that were included with the vehicle from the manufacturer are for safety such as the strobing lights on the interior of the trunk. The lights in the trunk provide visibility while the open trunk shields the overhead lightbar. There are also front, side, and safety canopy airbags on the interior of the cars.

The new vehicles arrived on February 27 from the manufacturer and must be outfitted with the decals, radio and computer console, light bars, push bumpers, cages, and other accessories installed locally. Much of the needed accessories will be able to be transferred from outgoing patrol cars into the new vehicles. The public can expect to see the new cars on the road in the Fall.

Seven Corpus Christi Police Officers were promoted to the rank of Senior Officer Wednesday, February 27, 2013 in a ceremony with Chief of Police Floyd Simpson at the Corpus Christi Police Department.

The officers successfully completed a proficiency exam which covered material from publications such as the Corpus Christi Police General Rules Manual, the Texas Criminal and Traffic Laws Manual, the Texas Penal Code, the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, the Texas Family Code, the Texas  Transportation Code, and the text-book titled Leadership, Ethics, and Policing for the 21^st Century by P.J. Ortmeier and Edwin Meese.

The officers must have attained 60 months of service as a commissioned officer in the Corpus Christi Police Department to be eligible to take the exam. Other requirements to take the exam are that they possess an Intermediate Peace Officer license issued by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education or at least have 60 hours college credit from an accredited college or university.

The Senior Officer exam was graded as an individual pass or fail examination with a minimum score of 70% required to pass the exam.

The Corpus Christi Police Department celebrates the newly promoted Senior Officers: Jamie L. Pelfrey, Isaac Rodriguez, Jason P. Tello, Daniel H. Sotello, Ernesto R. Coronado, William M. Hobbs, Eusebio Cano Jr.

The Corpus Christi Police Department’s commitment to “Keep Corpus Christi Safe” has continued with its “Zero Tolerance No Insurance Initiative”

On Saturday, March 2, 2013, a total of 95 cars, trucks, and motorcycles will be auctioned at the Corpus Christi Police Department’s  Vehicle Impound Lot located at 5485 Greenwood Drive during our monthly auction. The site has four paved acres for an auction lot.

Approximately 17 of these vehicles are “No Insurance” impounds. On Friday, March 1, 2013, the general public will be allowed to register and view the vehicles to be auctioned from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is no registration fee.

On the day of the auction, the general public can continue to register and view the vehicles from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The auction will commence promptly at 10:00 a.m.   The vehicles to be auctioned can be viewed at www.siskauction.com. An auction list may also be downloaded from the same website.

The department’s strong stand and enforcement of this “Zero Tolerance No Insurance Initiative” will continue and all vehicles involved in accidents will be impounded and the driver cited if they are unable to provide financial proof of insurance. Driver’s license and proof of financial responsibility checkpoints will continue to be conducted at the Shift Captains’ authorization.

During 2012, Officers issued 5,756 citations for Failure to Maintain Financial Responsibility and impounded 1,009 vehicles.  In 2013, Officers have issued 487 citations and impounded 140 for the same charge.