Corpus Christi Police Chief wants safer roads in 2018

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Corpus Christi City Council approved an ordinance to allow police to patrol in unmarked vehicles. Chief of Police Mike Markle wants to use the vehicles for traffic enforcement. Alexandria Rodriguez/Caller-TImes

With every new year comes goals and plans for a better year. Corpus Christi Police Chief Mike Markle shares that sentiment. 

Markle, who has been police chief for two years, has his sights set on improving the police department and a better and safer city. 

"There's not one area we could focus on. That's not the case," Markle said about his goals for the department in 2018. "We have a culture of bad behavior behind the steering wheel, and that needs to change."

Since at least June 2017, officers in the department, especially Markle, took notice to the climbing number of traffic fatalities. Markle took to City Council, asking for an ordinance allowing unmarked police vehicles to be passed. 

More: Council approves ordinance allowing Corpus Christi Police to patrol in unmarked vehicles

"When you drive through the San Antonio freeway you know you don't want to speed because there are unmarked and zero marked cars. When you hit Refugio city limits you think you better slow down, right?" Markle said. "We need to get there, here. That's a big goal for me."

To get that goal rolling, Markle said, he has tasked his command to come up with more options and plans. He also said the department would continue its current initiatives including its DWI and Special Assignment Focused Enforcement efforts, among others.

More: 40 dead as result of traffic fatalities; total doubled since 2010

Markle is also looking forward to using the department's new SkyWatch, which was used during the holiday shopping season in highly populated shopping areas, including La Palmera Mall and Moore Plaza. 

More: Eyes to the sky: Corpus Christi police given SkyWatch Tower to watch over community

"Our SkyWatch was tremendously successful. We had four or five auto burglaries in a whole month, in that period it was out," Markle said. "We've always had purse snatching and other crimes in that area, but we dispelled most of that."

The department will continue to use the SkyWatch in highly populated areas, including festivals and highly attended events. Markle also wants to continue the department's growth in using technology as resources to deter crime. One of his goals is to acquire a portable camera system to use in areas such as special events, he said. 

But the most important thing on Markle's list is community relations. 

"It's always at the forefront. The better we communicate, the better we solve crimes," Markle said. 

A chunk of establishing a strong bond with the community comes from the department's social media accounts, which have more than 30,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Although most of the posts on the social media accounts ask for the community's help in getting suspects off the streets, some posts bring smiles to the community, including a post about the department's very own Batman. 

Lt. J.C. Hooper said the following the department gathered really comes together in spreading the word, if a major incident occurs.

"Our goal is to get bigger every year," Hooper said. "Our goal is more. We're not going to stop."