On February 1, 2016, a handful of Turtle Cove residents attended a meeting with city officials to discuss the recent problems experienced in their area. Dianne Bonneau, one of the residents chosen by neighbors to attend, said she left the meeting confident that Chief Markle will ensure follow-through on all the decisions made. “Commander Blackmon, Council member McIntyre, and Turtle Cove representatives were able to identify some specific strategies and measures to put in place that will improve our current situation,” Bonneau said.
Captain McCarty, the contact officer for the BRAVO district, which includes Turtle Cove, along with directed patrol officers, code enforcement, and animal control have already taken steps in correcting some of the problems. These steps include:
- Posting signs on the cul de sacs by the park to notify the public that no parking is allowed after the park closes,
- Providing better lighting in the park,
- Installing improved cameras with signs indicating the cul de sacs by the park are monitored by video camera,
- Continuing police presence with officers sitting in their vehicles at the park as they complete paperwork,
- Conducting more frequent patrols of the area,
- Continued monitoring of properties connected to criminal activity,
- Using code enforcement officers to address code violations related to unkempt properties, animal control, vacant properties unlawfully occupied by trespassers,
- Providing information on tailoring a Neighborhood Watch program to suit the needs of the Turtle Cove residents,
- Having Captain James McCarty join the Turtle Cove Nextdoor, an online social media site that allows neighbors within a particular area to connect with one another and share what is happening in their neighborhood,
- Encouraging residents, who have installed personal security cameras and are willing to share their footage, to register their cameras with CCPD at Crimepic.com, and
- Asking residents to use ccmobile app to report code violations and 911 for emergencies.
Bonneau said that it seems Captain McCarty is committed to seeing the plan come to fruition. “Overall, I believe we walked away from the meeting in a much better place, and we now have an open dialogue going and are moving forward in eliminating the criminal elements in our area.”
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Retired from education after serving 30 years (twenty-eight as an English teacher and two years as a new-teacher mentor), Shirley enjoys her life with family and friends while serving her community, church, and school in Flour Bluff, Texas. She is the creator and managing editor of The Paper Trail, an online news/blog site that serves to offer a glimpse into the past and present of the little community of Flour Bluff. She wrote for The Flour Bluff Messenger, wrote and edited for The Texas Shoreline News, a Corpus Christi print newspaper that existed from December 2017 to April 2020, served as copy editor on three books, and continues to tutor students of all ages in the lively art of writing.
