BELTON, Texas (KXXV) — With almost seven months on the job, Belton Police Chief Larry Berg is focusing on the future, community engagement, and volunteer efforts within the Belton Police Department.
"We do well over 100 events a year," Berg said.
Chief Berg has been with the department for years and was promoted to chief earlier this year.
The department is even pushing forward with department and volunteer programs like R U Ok and Take Me Home while working on a new program for dog walkers that provides safety tips and helps report crime.
With community heavily on Chief Berg's mind, Central Texas shared what they'd like to see more of from local police.
Magdaly Newsone works in Downtown Belton and said, “As someone who does retail, I would like to see a little bit more patrolling in this area but also just like them walking (the streets)."
To get a broader perspective, 25 News asked the same questions on Facebook in a group with almost 16,000 members.
School safety, especially at school zones, speeding and theft like car break-ins were some top comments — all of which are heavy on Chief Berg’s mind.
"There is obviously recruitment retention issues but they’re getting better, we’ve seen this nationally — there’s a lot of discussion over it," he said.
"Belton is a really special place in the fact that we remain close to full staff — it’s just what we’re authorized. Obviously if we were able to have 10 to 15 more police officers that would be glorious.”
With that in mind, Chief Berg says they want to use their available resources the best way possible and put officers in places around the city that are more likely to have crashes, crime or speeders.
“We issue probably anywhere from maybe seventy percent warnings but those thirty percent they’re solid citations," he said.
While Chief Bert said police are out and about, he encourages neighbors to really do their part and lock up your vehicles and if you’re speeding though a school zone remember you’re only putting our on children at risk.
Chief Berg said he’s also working to use the latest technology to reach more people, especially Belton’s Hispanic population, as they make up around 23 percent of the city.
“We just want to give everybody a seat at the table and let them love the City of Belton as much as I do," he said.
