CASTROVILLE, Texas – As Medina Valley ISD enters the new school year, it hopes to crack down on campus-related crimes and increase the safety of its student body with a newly established police department.
“Prior to our police department, we used other agencies, specifically the Medina County Sheriff’s Office for SROs,” said Ellis Powell, the district’s police chief. “As we started growing, I think the school district realized the most sufficient way to keep up with that growth would be to have our own officers and department. We still work with (the) sheriff’s office and local agencies, and will continue to support them, and they support us.”
Powell actually retired from a long 20-year career in law enforcement in March 2024.
“I was a state game warden for about 22 years and before that, I was in corrections for a few years,” he said. “But I ended as game warden, (and) as regional major in South Texas along the coast.”
Powell said he always wanted to get back to Medina Valley.
“My family is from here and we have lots of relatives,” he said. “This is where we always planned to retire to. Our goal was to get back home. And then the people I worked with — the staff (and) the students — they are extremely dedicated to the growth to making sure the students are safe and learning. It is a terrific community.”
With his son graduating Medina Valley High School and with his daughter being currently enrolled, Powell said that serves a strong motivation for him to serve and protect all children.
“Keeping our kids safe is (our) number one priority,” Powell said. “It motivates me every day when I see these kids. We could not afford to have anything hurt these kids.”
Behind the badge, Powell said he is beyond ready to lead.
“We have new vehicles on the way,” he said. “Some of the best equipment any agency can get. Important things that is going to save lives if it is ever needed.”
The district said they will have four officers on each of their secondary school campuses and 8 Marshalls to handle their elementary schools.
“The officers and Marshalls have extensive backgrounds in law enforcement and military training,” Powell said. “I can tel you in my history in law enforcement I have never done the type of tactical training we do on a regular basis. To that training, our goal is to hire more officers and integrate training with other agencies like DPS, local (police) and the sheriff’s office. We start integrating them, it will benefit the response should we ever have to do (it) anytime like that.”
He said that having uniform officers on campus will also be a natural deterrent for any kind of criminality, including school fights and the use of vapes.
More importantly, it will help build a stronger relationship between the police and the students they protect.
“The mission of the police department is really simple,” Powell said. “Support the staff while they are teaching these students and make sure they are safe when they do it. It is (our) mission (and) we prepare for it every day. We hope we never have to engage, but we will be ready should anything serious happen. We will be ready.”
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