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HomeLocal / Area NewsCONSTABLE DAVID HILL-50 YEARS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

CONSTABLE DAVID HILL-50 YEARS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

Montgomery County Precinct 5 Constable David Hill celebrates 50 years in law enforcement this month. We sat down with Constable Hill and talked about those 50 years. From his graduating high school and going to work for TDCJ at almost $400 a month. He talked about the changes he saw in TDCJ from back then until now. He then applied for DPS and was accepted. After the short academy, His first and only duty station was Montgomery County. Enough bullets were issued to fit on your gun belt. The patrol car had one red spot light which was used to pull people over. At one-point DPS attempted to start a motorcycle division. That flopped a short time later as all six motorcycles which had developed a high-speed wobble had been wrecked. With only 4 troopers in the county and how much different DWI arrests were and all arrests for that matter. Having no cell phones and radios that ran on tubes where if the car was turned off, on the third time you keyed up you would need a wrecker to jump you off. The jail was on the top floor of the Montgomery County Courthouse and at times you would have to call Conroe PD on the radio to have them call over and wake the jailer up. If you were arrested for DWI your fine was $125 and you had to spend 4 hours in jail. Key Maps were not around yet and Hill still has a map book which he got from the telephone company which was used for maps. With officers far and few between, Hill said may times you would depend on wrecker drivers to back you up. They also had radios in which they could talk. ” There were times you didn’t worry about homeowners with guns and it wasn’t unusual to make a traffic stop in front of a home and see the home owner walk out with a shot gun, sit down on his porch and watch. Then as you released the driver from the traffic stop, the home owner would just go back inside. You never gave it any thought.” Pursuits took place and with the large engines it wasn’t unusual to get well over 100 miles per hour. EMS was another weakness back then. Most ambulance people had a Red Cross Basic First Aid Card. It wasn’t unusual to see an ambulance at a gas station filling up in the middle of a response. Crash investigations amounted to more or less writing a report, In the beginning scenes weren’t even measured. Photographs were taken by members of the media for DPS. On a fatal accident scene, with no cell phones it wasn’t unusual for a member of the media to get a call from Ms Loretta or K.B. Hallmark in the middle of the night asking them to respond to the scene. There were only about two or three persons around that they could count on. Many times, also it wasn’t unusual for another trooper to show up at a photographer’s home or stop them on the highway and escort them to the scene. In the north area Lloyd Overcash, Richard Searls and Scott Engle were the ones usually called on. It was in the mid-80’s before troopers started to carry cameras. When Hill left DPS there was an opening in the county for a new precinct. Hill was hoping Commissioners would give him the Justice of the Peace position that was open, but instead he was appointed Constable until the next election. which has won every one of them since. Hill said Magnolia was very small back then, the RenFest brought a lot of traffic through town in the mid-70’s and people started to take note of Magnolia and move out that direction. Then the rumor started that Disney was going to build a theme park and land started selling. Not once but several times the rumor came up over 20-years. Hill started with on man and himself. The primary job was handling civil papers. He is now up to 24 officers and split into civil, patrol and schools. His officers are responsible for all the security on Magnolia ISD schools. Areas like Hazy Hollow which the past several years has had many, many drug related arrests started out in the 70’s. Back then there were officers, game wardens and even judges living in the what Hill calls the Hollow. “There are many good people still there but a lot of drug arrests have been made”. Hill said after this term he is going to retire. He and his wife have visited 40 of the 50 states and Hill wants to make it a goal to see all 50. He also wants to do a lot more fishing and some hunting. This Friday at 5:30pm there will be a 50th year celebration dinner at the West Montgomery County Community Center, 31355 Friendship Drive in Magnolia. Dinner, drinks and cake will be served. For more information contact Angie Kula 713-806-7747.

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