CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Some westside residents are elated after the city council approved a grant to provide more police protection in their neighborhood.
The Ed Rachal Foundation offered the city a $50,000 grant to pay for overtime for officers in the “Delta 40” area near Crosstown and Agnes.
Some are wondering if this vote means other parts of town can receive more police patrols if they pay.
The Rachal Foundation owns the old Lamar Elementary School.
That campus is in the area they want patrolled.
The grant will be used to pay for patrols during a 36-week period.
But one local business owner we spoke with - who didn't want to be on camera - says those added patrols only do so much.
“They are here for a while and they do a good job, but once they leave, it's back," he said. “All the homeless and prostitution is back so I wish they would be here all the time but I know they got other things to do.”
Corpus Christi Assistant Police Chief Mark Schauer says it's not just a matter of adding patrols, but improving the quality of life.
“Once we get done with this area, hopefully it won’t just bleed out into another area,” Schauer said. “The idea is to sustain it and not just push it over to one block over.”
Some other specific ways they are hoping to curb crime in that area are by possibly adding dead ends to streets which they hope will reduce prostitution traffic and other criminal activity.
