As Medina Valley ISD enters the new school year, it hopes to crack down on campus-related crimes and increase the safety of its student body with a newly established police department.

“Prior to our police department, we used other agencies, specifically the Medina County Sheriff’s Office for SROs,” said Ellis Powell, the district’s police chief. “As we started growing, I think the school district realized the most sufficient way to keep up with that growth would be to have our own officers and department. We still work with (the) sheriff’s office and local agencies, and will continue to support them, and they support us.”

Powell actually retired from a long 20-year career in law enforcement in March 2024.

“I was a state game warden for about 22 years and before that, I was in correctio

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