RGV law enforcement acquires $2.4 Million in armored vehicles, mobile units
Tuesday, the Mission Police Department, alongside other local law enforcement agencies, acquired armored vehicles and specialized crime units through the Texas Anti-Gang Program Grant.
Launched in 2017, the McAllen-based RGV TAG Program creates regional and state approaches to combat gang violence through prevention and suppression methods.
Since its conception, the program has helped cities from Alton to Weslaco acquire license plate readers for vehicle tracking and monitoring. McAllen police chief further added that the TAG Unit spent over $6.5 Million for these resources.
Now, through a $2.4 million grant, local law enforcement is equipped with additional armored personnel carriers (APC) and specialty units.
“It really is a day that will change, I think, hopefully in a positive way, our communities in South Texas,” McAllen Chief of Police Victor Rodriguez said. “The products that you see here are a result of, basically, grant acquisition. And our grants come through what we call the RGV Anti-TAG Unit.”
According to an official press release by the city of McAllen, the city police department requested two LENCO BearCat APCs, each costing $400,746, two Roshel Senator APCs for $355,700 each, and two mobile command centers for over $400K.
Mission Officers Humberto Maldonado and Juan Garcia sit inside the Roshel Senator Armored Personnel Carrier on April 2, 2024. Photo by Maria Ruiz/Progress Times.
All vehicles were acquired.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have the legislative support, executive support, to be able to bring a TAG Unit to South Texas,” Rodriguez said. At the operation, headquartered in McAllen, 22 agencies, all local, state and federal, operate jointly. “Through this initiative, we have changed the way the law enforcement works through the RGV.”
Rodriguez further explained that law enforcement currently struggles to obtain resources and updated technology. In the parking lot stood four armored units and two mobile centers.
A McAllen officer then handed the keys over to Mission PD Officer Humberto Maldonado, who invited media partners for a tour inside the Roshel Senator APC.
Inside, at the dashboard, the driver and passenger had access to fobs and buttons on a center console to activate security cameras, sirens and infrared capture.
Security features include perimeter gun ports, escape hatches, external view cameras, advanced locks, and a sleek design that protects against CEN B7 ballistics.
The Roshel Senator Armored Personnel Carrier outside the McAllen Convention Center parking lot. Photo by Maria Ruiz/Progress Times
“It’s very heavy, it’s very aggressive,” Mission Police Chief Cesar Torres said. “It’s beautiful, very effective.”
McAllen, Edinburg, and the Sheriff’s Office each took an armored vehicle, and Weslaco received theirs at an earlier time.
Furthermore, Torres reflected on the ongoing partnership between South Texas law enforcement, following a few weeks after an officer-related shooting.
“Everyone offered assistance and it felt good…anything that we have, we’re going to offer to other cities [and] vice versa,” Torres said. “We meet often to make sure we’re on the same page. To make sure that we all need the same equipment.”
As for mobile units, Rodriguez said that one is still pending for the Sheriff’s Office, but that all is ready for police to protect communities across the Rio Grande Valley.
“Through these projects and through the cohesiveness that you see here today, we are better serving our communities in South Texas,” Rodriguez said. “We’re very, very thankful to the Governor’s office for funding these projects for us and, um, I hope that as we release these, we never have to see them in use.”
