The Southlake Police Department is proud to welcome Officer Josh Valdez to the force. Officer Valdez is a lateral officer, meaning he came to us after working three years with the Dallas Police Department. Since he is already a TCOLE certified police officer, he was able to forgo another Academy and instead went through a rigorous 6-weeks of training in which he learned about the City, General Orders, policies, as well as the geography of Southlake.
Officer Valdez said he’s wanted to be a police officer since he was young, in which his only birthday wish was to meet a police officer. His parents took him to their local Headquarters and he was able to meet the Chief and patrol officers, as well as play with the sirens in a squad car. “I was convinced that being a police officer meant you got to drive fast and catch bad guys,” he said. “I’ve since learned there’s obviously a lot more to it than that!”
There’s stark differences between his former large city department and Southlake. On one of his first days here, he was shown how to use the snake catcher stick, which he says he luckily hasn’t had to use yet. He said he still laughs about how many loose cow and horse calls he’s already been on in his short time here.
Every day is different in Southlake, as Officer Valdez loves exploring new parts of the city, patrolling the infamous Randol Mill, and cruising through Town Square with the windows down, waving to our fair citizens.
“I was surprised about wide variety of calls that are answered in one given day. I quickly learned that just because Southlake is a smaller city compared to where I used to work, does not mean that crime does not exist. I figured out that it takes hard work and diligent patrols to keep Southlake safe.”
Welcome Officer Joshua Valdez!
