San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez has compiled a list of the city's most violent offenders and has a plan in motion to find them.
"These individuals are habitual criminals in which they'll continue their offenses," Gonzalez said, "and I think we need to get them off the street and put them where they belong, in jail."
It's the job of his department’s newly-formed special investigations or SI Unit to make sure that happens.
The team is comprised of officers from patrol, investigations, SWAT and crime prevention officers.
They was busy on Wednesday morning rounding up the wanted criminals whose rap sheets included burglaries, robberies, assaults and vehicle thefts.
“We're going to be headed into Edinburg to execute an aggravated robbery suspect warrant," one of the SIU officers said in a briefing.
One of the men they were looking for had allegedly been high on drugs when he went on a crime spree.
"He's supposed to be asleep after a night of partying, I hear," another officer said, referring to intelligence they'd gathered from unnamed sources.
Wearing bullet proof gear, they set out to make an arrest.
But while on their way to arrest their suspect, they learned that the back door to the suspect's home was open and that he may have booked it.
With undercover officers from the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department watching the house, the SI Unit reacted quickly.
Upon arrival, the surrounded the home, with high powered weapons.
Luckily, the suspect, Salvador Gamez was still there.
He surrendered without a struggle after police kicked in the door.
"I didn't even do nothing," Gamez said, when Action 4 News approached him about the arrest. "I'm gonna fight it, they're gonna find out it wasn't me."
Gamez had a T-shirt draped around his neck, exposing his tattooed torso.
He was barefoot and complained the foot shackles put on by police were uncomfortable.
Chief Gonzalez was pleased with the arrests and hoped to catch the rest of the violent offenders on his list.
"There's 10 to 12 more subjects we're going to apprehend," he said.
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