Pre-Meeting - Police Dept. Council Update

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

Police Chief David Gill, presented the Mesquite Police Department (MPD) update for 2025. He reviewed the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) crime statistics including aggravated assault, arson, burglary, homicide, motor vehicle theft, rape, robbery and theft. Chief Gill presented an overview of the Police Department Operations Division including operational statistics, patrol K-9 deployments, commercial vehicle enforcement, and safety reports. He also presented information regarding the Criminal Investigations unit including the Major Crimes Unit and the Special Crimes Unit. The Major Crimes Unit handled a major bank robbery operation at the Navy Federal Credit Union. Major Crimes also reviewed 36 cold cases, submitted forensic evidence for new testing and developed new leads on three cases. The Special Crimes Unit investigations include a residential burglary investigation, chop shop investigation, VIN swap investigation, counterfeit luxury goods investigation, and Facebook Marketplace investigation. Chief Gill stated that the Narcotics Unit filed 127 cases, investigated 24 citizen drug complaints, seized 177 firearms which included 16 stolen firearms, 21 vehicles, $1,581,605.00 in currency and approximately 1,300 pounds of narcotics. Total "street value" in ounces of narcotics seized in 2025 is $9,400,942.00. Narcotics Unit K-9 Remi came into service on February 17, 2025 and has since performed 71 deployments, and has assisted numerous federal agencies and neighboring cities. Remi's 2025 deployments resulted in locating 598 pounds of methamphetamine, 209 pounds of marijuana, 119 pounds of cocaine and 27.8 pounds of THC oil/vape. Chief Gill discussed staff support and training. The State of Texas' standard Basic Peace Officer Course (BPOC) requires 720 hours of training. However, Mesquite police recruits are given 1,200 hours of training obtaining their intermediate certification. The Mesquite Police Department compiled over 36,000 training hours for sworn personnel in fiscal year 2025. New partnerships include SkillBridge with the Department of War. Mesquite is currently the only Texas Law Enforcement Agency participating in SkillBridge. In partnership with the MPD Recruiting Unit, the MPD will host approximately 200 students from the Mesquite Independent School District's (MISD) Career and Technical Education (CTE) Program on Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Students will receive an inside look at the department and learn about career pathways within the MPD. The work session ended at 6:57 p.m.