Police chief says staffing gains, but theft from big‑box stores drives Weatherford’s property‑crime spikes

Chief Lance Arnold said Weatherford’s police department is close to full patrol staffing after recent hiring of experienced lateral officers and implementation of a lateral-officer program that shortens training-to-solo time.

Arnold said the city has hired eight lateral officers averaging about six years’ experience and expects to be fully staffed within weeks. "When we hire a lateral officer, we drop that down to 10 weeks," he said, noting that recruits who come up through the basic academy require roughly 36 weeks before solo assignment.

The chief framed recent increases in property‑crime reports as concentrated in commercial districts. "The vast majority of our theft calls come from our commercial districts," Arnold said, pointing specifically to Walmart and Home Depot as recurring hotspots. He told the council those incidents are frequently committed by visitors who leave the city quickly via the interstate.

Arnold also explained a reporting change that can make multi‑offense incidents look larger under the newer NIBRS system. "Under the NIBRS system, we report everything that occurred in that one incident," he said, adding that older FBI reporting rules captured only the most serious offense.

Why it matters: The presentation links police staffing investments to operational capacity while clarifying that some metrics used by national ranking sites can be affected by large retail nodes and reporting standards rather than local crime trends alone. Council members asked whether land‑use choices — such as permitting more big‑box retail — should factor into public‑safety strategy; Arnold urged a balanced view, saying retail brings revenue even as it requires policing resources.

What council directed next: Council followed with questions about how development decisions affect calls for service and asked staff to include response‑time and staffing projections in forthcoming budget material. The chief said the department tracks response times and publishes quarterly reports.

Ending: The council did not take formal action during the retreat; members asked staff to return with more detailed response-time data and the local impacts of potential zoning decisions affecting commercial districts.