Commission created illegal city marshal slot

On Sept. 5, I discovered that the Harlingen City Commission had approved $50,000 for a new position. The position is that of a police officer who will be utilized as a “city marshal” and answers directly only to the Harlingen Municipal Court supervisor. Toward the end of this, you will see the justification for the position. But, in a desperate attempt at a quick fix for a long-standing problem, the City Commission, along with the city manager, approved an illegal position, according to the provisions of the Local Government Code.

This is not the first time the creation of an illegal position had been attempted.

Previously, as a Harlingen police officer, I blocked at least two attempts from people who did not want to abide by the rules set forth by government rules and regulations.

Subsequently, I drafted two letters — one to the Harlingen City Commission and the other to the civil service director and delivered the letters during my “dog and pony show” at the Sept. 5 City Commission meeting.

The letter to the City Commission invokes a section of the City Charter asking for the City Commission to investigate their decision in approving the City Marshall position. The second letter was addressed to the Harlingen Civil Service Commission Director, Sheryl Reed, indicating that such position had been created without her knowledge and a violation of civil service rules. I have asked to address the Civil Service Commission in the effort to invoke their investigation powers over such matters.

The Harlingen Police Chief was left out of the loop on this unique situation and has remained mum over the position. Yet, all law enforcement officers hired through the City of Harlingen answer to him. All officers fall under the civil service guidelines, yet this new position will be classified as an “at will” position.

Sarcastically, we have a new police chief in the municipal police department that will oversee all the mandated regulations by TCLEOSE, training requirements, and the police equipment issued to such a special officer. The amount of $50,000 will get you one officer, all police equipment and uniforms, a police car equipped with lights, siren, a police radio and all the extras for this City Marshall. Why would we allow this to happen?

Apparently, the persons making such a decision feel that Harlingen police officers will not arrest violators unless they are paid overtime. What they won’t tell you is that, because of a long-standing feud, two companies’ software are not compatible in creating a shared database to search for outstanding tickets and arrests. It would be easier to make arrests if the information on the databases was available to officers. Fix this problem and we could see better results.

Now, another related story to the issue at hand. On Sept. 11, I stopped by the Harlingen Police Department and I had an opportunity to view a defendant being arraigned on the closed-circuit TV provided in the lobby of the department. The defendant had been arrested for outstanding warrants and the judge, using her trusty calculator, informed the defendant that he owed the city $4,057. The outstanding tickets and arrests were from 2002 to the present; the judge waived another five outstanding balances. The defendant informed the judge that he could not pay and he was sentenced to serve the remaining balance at a $100-a-day credit. Forty days later, after this defendant leaves the Harlingen “Hilton,” he will be debt-free to at least one creditor. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment!

Rubio is a retired Harlingen police lieutenant.