CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With all six Corpus Christi propositions passing this election cycle, a lot of innovation and construction is set to take place, part of that including new police substations.
The substations fall under Prop C, which includes public safety. They will be located in Calallen near West Guth Park, on the city's far southside near the Oso Creek Del Mar College campus, and one near La Palmera Mall.
Assistant City Manager Neiman Young said that having more feet on the ground in highly populated places will go a long way.
"Stay and maintain a permanent presence and improve their response times, so our solution to that is to build more substations across the city," he said.
The substation in Flour Bluff was the first of its kind when it opened two years ago. Now, Young said that he wants to replicate that success in Flour Bluff in the community as a whole.
Corpus Christi Police Department Lt. Eryka Gonzalez said that when it comes to serving the public, every minute counts.
Just the drive from the main police station downtown to the mall takes around 16 minutes.
"We don't want officers going from one side of town to another because obviously it takes a lot of time," she said. "That location is going to help us be better serving to the community,"
On top of reducing response times, Gonzalez said that the new substations will also help put more officers on the streets since many of them will be in a singular location.
"Officers will have their briefings there, officers will be in and out of that building, you know because it's a substation, so there will be a lot more officer presence on that side," she said.
Giving residents and businesses in those areas a place to turn to.
"It's also going to have space for community members to come in and if they want to do a report, write a report, they can get that taken care of," Gonzalez said. "Kind of like what we do at the Flour Bluff substation."