Chief of Police Floyd Simpson honored two local citizens for their contributions in reducing crime this morning during a brief ceremony at Police Headquarters.  Jennifer Martinez and Eric Enim were both presented with Citizen Certificate of Merit awards by Chief Simpson, recognizing them for their assistance in bringing two separate felony suspects to justice.

On March 22, 2012 Ms.  Martinez was shopping at a local discount store when she noticed a suspicious young man wandering up and down the aisles.  Something about the man’s appearance and demeanor raised Ms. Martinez’s suspicion and she continued to watch him.  When the man neared the front of the store, he suddenly walked behind the store counter where he pulled a knife and held it to the side of the female store clerk.  While the man demanded that she open the cash register, Ms. Martinez quickly dialed 911 and reported the robbery in progress.  The panicked clerk had difficulty opening the cash register, which only made the man angry and he moved closer to the woman, while continuing to threaten her with the knife.  Eventually the frightened clerk opened the register; the man quickly grabbed some cash and fled the store on foot.  Ms. Martinez followed the suspect from the store while continuing to provide the dispatcher with a thorough description of the man along with his direction of travel.  The suspect then disappeared into a residential neighborhood behind the store.

Based upon the thorough description Ms. Martinez provided, minutes later a CCPD patrol officer spotted the suspect walking down the street several blocks away.  The officer quickly detained the suspect and returned him to the store, where Ms. Martinez and the other witnesses quickly identified him as the man who had robbed the store.  The man was arrested and charged with Aggravated Robbery.

At approximately 3:44 AM on April 29, 2012 Eric Enim was delivering newspapers to a convenience store at the corner of Port and Tarlton Streets.  While in the parking lot, Mr. Enim heard a loud noise and noticed a white Chevy Suburban trailing sparks as it drove past on the SH 286 Access Road.  Mr. Enim watched as the Suburban, which had heavy front end damage and two flat front tires, ran the stoplight at Tarlton Street and turned east.  Seconds later, Mr. Enim heard a loud crash and drove to the area to investigate.  Mr. Enim saw that the same white Suburban had struck a fire hydrant on Tarlton Street and the driver was attempting to drive off.  Mr. Enim then called 911 emergency dispatch and informed them of the accident.  Little did Mr. Enim know that prior to the accident with the fire hydrant, the Suburban had struck a motorcycle at SH 286 southbound over Baldwin Avenue, leaving the driver of the motorcycle with critical injuries.

Mr. Enim remained on the phone with the MetroCom dispatcher, providing her with vital information as he watched the driver of the Suburban exit the vehicle, flee the accident scene on foot, and run to a nearby convenience store at Ayers and Tarlton Streets. Once again Mr. Enim called the dispatcher to update officers to the new location of the hit and run driver.  Within minutes a patrol officer arrived at the convenience store, and based upon the thorough description that Mr. Enim provided, the 22 year-old suspect was quickly arrested and charged with Intoxication Assault and Felony hit and run.  Mr. Enim later returned to the scene of the accident to provide a statement to the Traffic Officer investigating the accident.

For their unselfish acts of community service in these incidents, Ms. Jennifer Martinez and Mr. Eric Enim were both awarded the Corpus Christi Police Department Citizen Certificate of Merit.

Chief Floyd Simpson today announced the promotion of Commander Mark Schauer and Commander Mike Markle to the position of Assistant Chief.  Schauer and Markle will join current Assistant Chief J.V. Garcia as the Corpus Christi Police Department’s second highest ranking police officials. Schauer and Markle will fill the vacancies created when former Assistant Chief Steve Mylett left the department in November of 2011 to become Chief of Police in Southlake, Texas; the third Assistant Chief Position was approved by the City Council last week.   One of Chief Simpson’s first goals as Chief was to create a new organizational structure that ensures that all facets of the department were given adequate attention, and that units with similar goals, such as the Gang Unit and Narcotics, work together under the same command.   This new command structure will ensure that important operations such as recruiting and training will be given the attention they deserve, and that potential problems can be identified and corrected before they become major issues.

Commander Mark Schauer is a 30 veteran of the police department and has served as the Commander of the Support Services Division since January of 2011.  Schauer has also commanded the Uniform Patrol and Narcotics/Vice Divisions. Schauer is a graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy, the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT) and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, where he teaches as an adjunct professor. Schauer has supervised in almost every division in the Department, including Training, CID, MetroCom, Narcotics/Vice, and Traffic. In addition, Commander Schauer is in charge of the City’s Public Integrity Team, a specialized group of Police Department and City Officials who are assigned to investigate complaints of public corruption by city employees.  Commander Schauer was recently tasked with overseeing the reorganization of the City’s Animal Control center.

Commander Mike Markle is a 22 year veteran of the CCPD, having served as Commander of CID since January 2011. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Saint Leo University and has served most of his career (17 years) in the Uniform Division. He spent 7 years on the SWAT team, has served as a Field Training Officer and was a member of the Police Department Honor Guard. Markle has received a Lifesaving Award and a Community Service Award from the Housing Authority.   In his previous role as a Captain in Support Services he played an important role in the updating of the Department’s 911 system, upgrading the dispatch area, and assisted in obtaining a federal grant to remodel the outdated communications center.Schauer and Markle will begin their new assignments next week.  A formal promotional ceremony will be held Monday May 7th at 2:00 PM in the fifth floor auditorium of the  Main Police Building.