La Marque honored for community policing efforts

La Marque Police Officer Michael Turner speaks with La Marque resident Antinell Martin at her home.

Texas Police News

LA MARQUE - A new approach to policing has led to a steady drop in violent crime in a local city — and statewide recognition for its success.

The Texas Municipal League during its annual conference in San Antonio on Oct. 5 named La Marque a finalist for the 2022 Municipal Excellence Award.

La Marque was named in the public safety category for cities under 25,000 for its community oriented policing efforts.

Municipal Excellence Awards recognize and encourage the achievements of Texas cities in meeting the challenge of municipal governance.

Innovative problem-solving, excellence in management, increasing citizen participation, and reaching toward higher service levels are all daily occurrences in Texas cities, and they deserve recognition, La Marque Police Department Chief Randall Aragon said.

Awards are given in two population categories, under 25,000 and over 25,000, and five areas: management innovations, communication programs, city spirit, public safety and public works, he said.

“It was a big honor to be recognized for the work we have done in our city,” Aragon said.

“Being one of the three finalists for this annual coveted award is a most well-deserved recognition for our great city that is considered ‘the gateway to the Gulf.’”

Aragon, who served as chief from 2009 to 2014 and had previously instituted community-oriented policing, was asked to return to his post and reinstitute the program. The program, which was initially started in 2009, was a part of the “La Marque Safe City Initiative,” with the goal of making the city the safest in Texas. The idea of the program was to reduce crime and citizens’ fear of crime in a city with a long history of high crime rates.

May 2020 was described as one of the most violent months in recent memory, according to police chiefs and constables in the Texas City and La Marque area.

This was because of feuding rap crews, accused in at least nine shootings in La Marque and Texas City in May 2020 alone, and an uncertain number of homicides and other shootings in the years since the 2016 death of 18-year-old Malik Pratt, law enforcement officers said.

Just months before Aragon’s return, from Dec. 27, 2020 to Jan. 2, 2021, four shootings were recorded in six days, officers said.

“The key to changing things around was certainly community oriented policing,” Aragon said.

Community oriented policing is a strategy that uses proactive policing rather than reactive policing, placing an emphasis on crime prevention rather than policing after a crime has occurred. The strategy focuses on developing relationships and trust with community members, including the mayor and city council members. It is highly personal and involves patrolling an area for a longer period of time and developing genuine partnerships with citizens to identify and solve problems together.

“Community Oriented Policing proposes moving beyond working harder and faster, toward working smarter via long-range community-based problem solving,” Aragon said.

La Marque already has seen results from community-oriented policing, with a 30 percent drop in violent crime between April 2021 and April 2022, according to the city.

In addition to the change in policing philosophies, the department also has established two community watch neighborhoods, which are considered at-risk of crime — Lake Road North and Lake Road South — both of which have their own community policing officer, Aragon said.

These community watch neighborhoods have been supported by the community and their efforts, and have been beneficial to officers and the department, he said.

The reintroduction of community-oriented policing has led to a decline of crime and fear of crime in La Marque, but the program is a work in progress, Aragon said.