Hutto Police Department adds officers, looks at redrawing patrol map

Mercedez Hernandez
·2 min read

HUTTO, Texas (KXAN) — Hutto’s police chief updated city council members at their latest meeting on the hiring of nine additional police officers. Hutto Police Chief Jeffrey Yarbrough said combined support from the city and community led to those positions being filled relatively quickly.

Yarbrough said salary increases and a nightside differential approved by the council last fall fueled the positive response from police candidates.

Hutto PD gets $500K boost for officer salaries

Yarbrough said as the community grows, the department needs to ensure enough officers are on hand for proper enforcement and patrolling.

He said these nine additional officers will solidify that goal as the department looks to expand its two existing patrol sectors (one north, one south) into four total zones with dedicated officers in each area.

Yarbrough said with more officers in the department, certain duties that have sometimes taken a backseat to more urgent calls will now get more attention.

“We can have officers in each of those sectors and they don’t have to come from one sector to another to provide coverage or respond to say a traffic call. We’re able to have a traffic enforcement division that’s solely dedicated to working traffic accidents and and traffic enforcement,” Yarbrough said.

Davi Griffin works at a coffee shop just off US 79, a busy main road that runs through Hutto. He said the day is filled with traffic he can watch right from behind the counter.

“It gets really backed up in areas where you think you can take maybe a detour, or maybe you might miss the traffic. You’re not going to miss it, you’re gonna hit it at every cost,” Griffin said.

Yarbrough said it could be roughly two or three more months before the department finalizes those new patrol sector lines.

“We’re wanting our officers who are out working in those districts day in and day out, giving us the feedback on and recommendations on what they think would be effective and how we draw those lines. We also want to talk to our community members,” Yarbrough said.

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