Gatesville police, Coryell deputies handle fires, thefts and calls for help

A brush fire, a structure fire, a gas leak and a string of theft and trespass calls kept Gatesville police and Coryell County deputies moving through a seven-day stretch that showed how quickly routine complaints can turn into public-safety problems in a county of 86,370 people.

The dispatch log covering April 29 through May 5 recorded a disturbance on East Main Street, a reckless driver on West Main Street, theft reports, criminal trespass calls, threats and harassment, a brush fire on East Highway 84, a prowler on Liberty Street, an accident on South 7th Street, illegal dumping on the South State Highway 36 Bypass and several late-night suspicious-activity and trespass calls. A structure fire on Private Road 18 and a gas leak at Gateway Circle added to a week that mixed nuisance calls with incidents that demanded a faster response.

Coryell County deputies handled a brush fire on West Highway 190, an animal complaint on Woodville Drive, a theft on Etta Lane and another animal complaint on West US Highway 84. The county also reminds residents to contact the sheriff’s office before any burning, a standing warning that fits a week when fire calls surfaced in both the city and the unincorporated county.

The workload landed in Gatesville, a city with an estimated population of 16,388, and on a police department that says it has 32 full-time positions divided among Patrol, Investigations and Administration. That small staffing base has to cover everything from property crimes and traffic problems to fires, utility hazards and repeated calls about suspicious activity.

Officials also remind residents to call 911 only for emergencies. Non-emergency calls should go to the Gatesville Police Department at 254-865-2226 or the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office at 254-865-7201. The pattern matches earlier dispatch logs, which have also included reckless drivers, structure fires, thefts, criminal trespass and brush or grass fires, suggesting this week was less an outlier than a snapshot of the county’s steady public-safety load.