PALESTINECHAMBER . ORG 47
Supporting local law enforcement By PennyLynn Webb
The Texas Rangers are a major division within
the Texas Department of Public Safety with lead criminal investigative responsibility for major incident crime investigations , unsolved crime or serial crime investigations , public corruption and public integrity investigations , officer involved shooting investigations , and border security operations .
Texas Ranger Nic Castle , originally from Bonham , has been a fixture in Anderson County since August 2016 .
Castle took over the position left vacant by newly elected Anderson County Sheriff and former Texas Ranger Rudy Flores , who retired earlier that year .
Prior to getting into law enforcement , Castle , who has been married for 20 years and has two children , ages 11 and 8 , was a special education teacher . He also worked in fire and emergency medical services before going through law enforcement training .
He said he always dreamed of being in law enforcement .
“ I got into DPS 12 years ago and seemed like the thing that interested me the most was the criminal investigation side , which is the main duty of a Ranger ,” Castle said .
“ I started out in local police work , and I always wanted to work for the state ; I knew that , because of the opportunities — the ability to move around , kind of be more free with what I wanted to do career-wise , rather than being stuck in one agency or one specific location — appealed to me .”
Castle said the biggest misconception about Texas Rangers is that people don ’ t understand they are basically support for local law enforcement agencies .
“ We depend on our local sheriff ’ s office , police departments and constables ’ offices to work with us ,” he said . “ I ’ m grateful that we have great working relations with all law enforcement agencies in Anderson County . The biggest misconception is that we don ’ t have original jurisdiction over a lot of the cases we work . We come in and support the local jurisdiction .”
While Castle and the Texas Rangers have an open door policy , he said they prefer residents take their local issues to local jurisdiction and give them the opportunity to take care of it .
“ We do get contacted about a lot of things that are local jurisdiction issues , and unless there is a specific conflict regarding the local agency , we do refer those back to the local jurisdiction to make sure that it is taken care of at that level ,” Castle said . “ But , yes , we do have an open-door policy , and they are welcome to come by any time if they have questions or concerns .”
The Texas Ranger Division , a major division within the Texas Department of Public Safety , was unofficially created by Stephen F . Austin in a call-to-arms written in 1823 and were first headed by Captain Morris .
Over the years , the Texas Rangers have investigated crimes ranging from murder to political corruption , acted in riot control and as detectives , protected the governor of Texas , tracked down fugitives , and functioned as a paramilitary force at the service of both the Republic ( 1836 – 1845 ) and the state of Texas .
The Texas Ranger Division is comprised of 166 commissioned Rangers .
Photo by PennyLynn Webb Texas Ranger Nic Castle consults with Department of Public Safety Sgt . Jean Dark , the public information officer for the Tyler District .