NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — A fairly new unit at the New Braunfels Police Department is making a significant impact, according to the city.
Last October, New Braunfels Police started a DWI unit as part of its traffic division. The crime is a big problem in a town that's booming. According to a recent study, this week, New Braunfels is the second city in the nation with the largest population growth in one year.
New Braunfels Police Sergeant Tim Brinkkoeter oversees the traffic division at the department. He said the DWI unit is the sole focus of two officers.
"We saw the need here in New Braunfels," he said. "The loss of life, the severity of the injuries, the amount of property damaged."
According to the city, in the past 12 months, the DWI unit has made 261 DWI arrests. The two officers alone made about 42 percent of the department's total DWI arrests. In a chart from the city, in 2023 there were 506 DWI arrests, and this year there have been 624.
"When you have officers that specialize in a certain field like this, they can often take care of the arrests much faster," Brinkkoeter said. "It also frees up patrol to go handle those others calls."
The New Braunfels Police Chief has said this unit is shifting the dynamic on the city's roads making them safer. According to the city, while other police units rely on funding or grants, this unit does not. It is part of the city's general fund.
"Proud of our officers trying to protect the public, trying to curb this activity and this behavior and trying to get people to stop drinking and driving," he said.
Brinkkoeter said the officers aren't just focused on I-35 but other feeder roads. The officers also pay attention to events happening in Austin, San Antonio and of course New Braunfels.
The city just had Wurstfest its popular German festival that goes on for 10 days. The event ended last Sunday. As for the number of DWI arrests during the festival, last year there were 31 arrests. This year, police reported there were 36 arrests.
"It tells me that we are doing something right," Brinkkoeter said.