For the second time in seven months, the city of Mercedes has a new top cop.
In a statement released Thursday, the city announced Roy A. Quintanilha would take over as chief of police effective July 26. Quintanilha succeeds Jose Macias, who was named police chief Dec. 23, 2020.
Macias officially retired July 9.
For Quintanilha, his selection as police chief serves as a return to his old stomping grounds, as the veteran officer’s 38-year law enforcement career began in the Queen City, a news release from the city stated.
“He started his law enforcement career with the City of Mercedes Police Department in December of 1982,” the statement read.
“(Quintanilha) has distinguished himself in the area of supervision of staff, operations and programs for the last thirty one (31) consecutive years…. (and) has supervised the Civilian and Law Enforcement Division with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office,” the statement further read.
While at the sheriff’s office, Quintanilha has served as a patrol deputy, investigator, lieutenant, safety director, division chief of administration, and chief jailer, among other positions, the statement said.
Reached for comment Thursday afternoon, Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra had nothing but praise for Quintanilha.
“I’m excited that he’s accepted the position there,” Guerra said.
“As you can see by his stellar career here in law enforcement, he is very, very qualified to run that police department,” the sheriff said.
Guerra originally brought Quintanilha on board to head the county jail, which serves as the only maximum security detention facility south of San Antonio. There, Quintanilha excelled, Guerra said.
“I don’t think that I have another individual here that has quite that experience. He’s done it all. Homicide, all the crimes against property, crimes against persons, all the way to running to the maximum security facility,” Guerra said.
Quintanilha’s leadership at the jail is something Mercedes Mayor Oscar Montoya also spoke to Thursday.
Aside from serving as mayor, Montoya is also Quintanilha’s colleague at the sheriff’s office. And like the sheriff, Montoya had only good things to say about the man.
“What I’ve seen him do is take whatever he grabs onto and make it better, whether it was taking charge of a SWAT team or taking charge of the jail,” Montoya said.
“The jail is a huge moving ship and he did a fantastic job of getting that thing to where it needed to be and it was highly regarded across the state,” he said.
But it’s not just detention facilities and the day-to-day workings of a patrol beat that Quintanilha is familiar with. The incoming chief also has substantial experience working with other law enforcement agencies, municipal and county governments, and department budgets, according to both the sheriff and Montoya.
“He was in charge of a $68 million budget that encompassed 831 employees,” Montoya said of Quintanilha’s overseeing of the sheriff’s office budget, which Montoya now oversees.
“He understands the intricacies of county government and city government. So, he won’t have a problem dealing with the mayor and city council there,” Guerra said.
DEPARTMENT HISTORY
Quintanilha joins the city of Mercedes after a year of upheaval among the city’s highest ranks. He will become the third man to lead the police department within the last year.
And over the last year, the city has also seen a new fire chief, public works head, three city managers, a new head of IT, and high turnover at both the fire and police departments.
Quintanilha will also inherit a department that has no functioning jail, as Mercedes has been forced to house its prisoners in Weslaco since 2019.
What began as a six-month projection to retrofit the city’s public works building into a new jail facility has now stretched into a two-year long project that thus far has no concrete budget or construction timeline.
Quintanilha will also have to continue the work started by Chief Macias to restore the community’s trust in the department.
Macias, who served as assistant chief of police prior to his December 2020 elevation to chief, took over at a time when a vocal faction of the community openly shared their unease about the department’s previous leader, Chief Dagoberto “Dago” Chavez.
Chavez oversaw the arrest of four residents during a raucous public meeting in September 2019 — an event that drew quick and harsh criticism from the community. Some three months after that meeting, Chavez also oversaw the arrest of community activist Israel Coronado in relation to the meeting. Coronado had at the time just announced his candidacy for mayor.
Feeling his arrest was political retaliation, Coronado filed a civil rights lawsuit against Chavez and the city. That lawsuit remains pending in federal court.
NEW DIRECTIONS
Macias, who had worked with Chavez during their time together at the Mission Police Department, was seen as an experienced leader who could bring trust back to the department. And for his part, Macias lived up to his promise to keep an open door policy with the community.
But, after serving more than 30 years in law enforcement, his intention was never to stay with the department long term, Montoya said.
Quintanilha, like Macias, has expertise leading multiple facets of a law enforcement agency. For the mayor, that means he will be able to provide a much needed stability to Mercedes.
“I think for the citizens to know that there’s going to be somebody there that they can get to know, they can meet, shake hands with and know that he’s gonna be there if they need to talk to him, that’s huge for the citizens,” Montoya said.
“I think it’s a ‘W’ for all of us, you know, to have a stable person at that position,” he said.
But not everyone was as enthusiastic about Quintanilha’s hiring.
Place 3 Commissioner Jose Gomez said he was disappointed to learn that Mercedes City Manager Alberto Perez had made a hiring decision without notifying the commission of his choice.
Gomez — who had submitted a public information request for the names of the police chief applicants late last month and received two names this week in response — said he learned of Quintanilha’s hiring through the city’s news release.
“I’m very, very disappointed that the city manager, that he didn’t have the courtesy to let us know who he was thinking about,” Gomez said.
“Through city charter, yes, he has the right to hire and fire. I wouldn’t want him to hire one that I prefer, but let us know. I think elected officials deserve, at the very least, deserve that type of respect,” he said.
Perez did not return a message seeking comment as of press time.
Quintanilha’s name wasn’t one of the two applicants Gomez had learned of via his information request. Those applicants were Mercedes police officer Carlos Olivares and Baudelio Castillo, who has served stints in Weslaco and Alamo.
Alamo fired Castillo as its chief in 2019 — an act he said was political retaliation by the mayor and city manager.
