About the San Marcos Police Department

The San Marcos Police Department operates on an approximately $9.8 million budget with 09 employees; 82 of whom are sworn officers and 27 non-sworn members. The San Marcos Police Department is contains large entities: Administration and Operations.  The Assistance Chief of Police who commands the Operations is responsible for all patrol operations as well as the Narcotics Task Force.

The San Marcos Police Operations division is charged with the responsibility of protection of life and property, identification and apprehension of offenders, and recovery of lost and stolen property. The Operations Division addresses those responsibilities through pro-active patrol, responding to calls for service, directing traffic, investigating accidents, conducting criminal investigations, providing emergency response, and participating in other community service activities. The division conducts narcotic investigations, provides K-9 services and operates the Crime Stoppers Program.

The Administrative Division of the San Marcos Police Department is responsible for 911 emergency communications, training, school resource, juvenile, crime prevention, accreditation, grant administration, records and administrative supervision and coordination of all activities and operations within the San Marcos Police Department.

Howard E. Williams began his 30 year law enforcement career as a cadet for the Austin Police Department (Texas).  Working a variety of assignments he rose through the ranks of the department to become the commander of the Organized Crime Division in 2002. In 2003, Howard Williams accept the position as Chief of Police for the San Marcos Police Department (Texas).  During his tenure in the Organized Crime Division, Howard Williams managed the Narcotics, Gangs, Career Criminal, Financial Crimes, High-Tech Crimes, Nuisance Abatement, Forfeiture, Forged Prescriptions, and Alcohol Control sections and supervised 101 employees under an $8.5 million budget.

Howard Williams served as a Lecturer for the School of Criminal Justice at Southwest Texas State University in 2002, was a member of the Education Committee for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education in 2000, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Travis County Dispute Resolution Center from 1996 to 2003.  Howard Williams has been a member of the Texas Police Chiefs’ Association since 2001 and the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers since 2000.

Howard Williams completed his Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Southwest Texas State University in August 2002 and a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences in August 2000. Howard Williams is the author of Asset Forfeiture: A Law Enforcement Perspective.

According to the book description of Asset Forfeiture: A Law Enforcement Perspective, it “reviews the myriad statutes, rules, regulations, confusing and often contradictory judicial decisions, and detailed processes to outline forfeiture procedures for law enforcement administrators, investigators, and officers. The text consists of three principal sections: the development of modern asset forfeiture policy, asset forfeiture law, and administering forfeiture programs.

The first section contains five chapters tracing the history of forfeiture in the United States. These chapters include a brief review of forfeiture history and policy, non-judicial forfeiture procedures, civil forfeiture procedures, criminal forfeiture procedures, and state forfeiture processes. The twelve chapters on forfeiture law in the second section discuss several federal forfeiture statutes as they pertain to different law enforcement topics: auto theft, copyright infringement, drug abuse and prevention, espionage, explosives and firearms, gambling, immigration.

The third section concerning administration of forfeiture programs, contains three chapters, which include seizing assets, establishing probable cause, and managing forfeiture programs. This unique book is designed to introduce the criminal justice student or the neophyte practitioner to the complexities of forteiture law and procedures. It promotes the aggressive but judicial use of asset forfeiture as a crime-fighting tool, and it advocates the conservative use of forfeited property to further clearly defined law enforcement policies.”