PHARR — The Pharr Police Department is finding new ways to engage with the community, and it is taking full advantage of various forms of media to accomplish its community outreach goals.
Monday marked the launch of the department’s new podcast, “Police On Air,” a lighthearted 22-minute look into the goings-on of the police department.
The first episode featured Chief Andy Harvey in conversation with TV and radio personality James Echavarria, also known as Rock-n-Roll James.
“This is something we’ve wanted to do for a while,” Harvey said at the start of Monday’s podcast. “Here’s one thing I’ve noticed, Rock, it’s that a lot of times when stories come out — and we read comments and all that social media, and we want to inform the public. Here’s one thing that I notice, there’s still a lot of misunderstanding of what the police really do.”
The podcast is the department’s latest venture into engaging with the community by making use of more modern avenues. The department delved into the social media realm with the launch of its own TikTok account in July 2021. Their account has since accumulated over 48,000 followers and over 301,000 likes for its 58 videos.
The department’s new podcast, which is currently available on its YouTube channel of the same name, will stream a new episode every week. Episodes will soon be available to stream on various podcasting apps.
“It just had to be the right time and the right people who had some talent … that know how to do stuff like this,” Harvey said. “Even if I didn’t … I just wanted to do it right, not with just an iPhone and me or whoever. I wanted to have an actual studio, professional, something that Pharr can be proud of. We finally got the right equipment, the right people to help us, and we’re really proud of the way everything came out.”
Harvey has stressed the importance of community engagement and transparency since he was first introduced as the city’s chief of police in July 2020. While the department has made its presence known through various community events and programs, he said utilizing the resources available through social media was the logical next step in boosting that engagement.
“In today’s world, if we’re not online, then we’re missing out on a great opportunity,” Harvey said. “We’re not going to touch everybody in person. It’s just too hard to do that. So why not use social media as a platform or medium to do that? Facebook has kind of been the traditional (medium) in the social media world, but I’ll tell you, when we got on TikTok last summer, that blew up.”
He said he was inspired to do the podcast following the arrests of brothers Alejandro Santos Treviño and Christian Treviño, who are accused of killing their stepfather, Gabriel Quintanilla, on Jan. 20 for allegedly abusing his 9-year-old daughter and their half-sister.
“What I found was there was a lot of misinformation and a lot of assumptions made that really led to a lot of the sentiment out there,” Harvey said about the arrests. “I get it, first of all. That’s the reason I had a press conference — just to kind of clarify some of that. I think it worked a little bit, but I’m not sure it did fully.”
He said that he was invited onto James’s own podcast, “Professional Valley Talk” (PVT), to discuss the case in greater detail.
“That confirmed to me that there’s power in (podcasting),” Harvey said.
Each episode will devote a few minutes to a “Weekend Report,” in which details about incidents that occurred over the weekend will be shared. In this week’s episode, Harvey shared details about the theft of an ATM machine early Monday morning at NAFT Credit Union in Pharr.
Harvey said the department will also use the podcast as a means of informing the public about breaking news situations.
“I do believe that in policing, and nationally, that we are really still ways apart when it comes to mutual understanding between police and the community,” Harvey said. “A lot of the assumptions that we see or a lot of perceptions about us, or about what we do and why we do, there’s still a lot to learn from each other. What better way to have teachable moments and enlighten or inform the public about what we do and hopefully increase that mutual understanding when we do that? I think it may increase trust.”
