By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Michael Wancho is seeking election to the office of Constable Pct. 3.
Wancho will first seek the Republican Party’s nomination for the seat in the Republican Party Primary Election on March 5. He is one of two candidates who will appear on the Republican Party primary ballot.
Wancho graduated from Del Rio High School in 2010.
He was commissioned as a jailer by the Texas Jail Commission in 2011 and attended and graduated from the Val Verde Sheriff’s Office Academy in 2014. After graduating from the sheriff’s office academy and the VVSO’s field training program, Wancho was assigned as a patrol deputy, with duties that included responding to citizens’ calls for service, patrolling assigned areas, emergency responses, civil process and interaction with county citizens.
From 2018 to the present, Wancho has been assigned as the bailiff for all of the justices of the peace in the Alicemae Fitzpatrick Courthouse Annex and his duties as a bailiff include courthouse security for the building and staff, performing court bailiff duties and interacting with the public.
Wancho holds a Texas peace officer license and carries additional state certifications as a court security officer and jailer. He has more than 1,200 training hours required by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) and each year participates in the continuing education required by the state.
Asked why he is seeking election to the seat, Wancho said, “Back in 2018, I became full-time bailiff for all the justices of the peace, and I learned that the justices deal with a lot of civil matters, and I became very fond of the civil aspect of law enforcement, as well as the criminal for certain writs, and that’s when I decided that was really my interest, the civil portion of it, along with working in the courts.”
Wancho spoke about his priorities if elected.
“My main focus would be to protect the Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 during court proceedings, but if we don’t have court, my priority is school zones. As a constable, you don’t have to be in a marked vehicle, you can sit in an unmarked vehicle, and I’m not saying I’ll go out there and hassle everybody, but just being a presence in the school zone. . . I feel like I would be able to help keep the children of the community safe, and not only that, keep traffic slow and being in the school zone, if something, God forbid, does happen, you’re right there and having an unmarked vehicle, if anybody had an idea of doing something bad, they wouldn’t know that you’re law enforcement sitting there right next to them,” Wancho said.
“In Precinct 3 right now, I know we have a big problem with illegal immigrants. We don’t have any river frontage in the precinct, but I know a lot of people who own land with river frontage, and I have spoken to them, and I have no problem helping them out, to act as a deterrent and help them maybe feel a little safer.
“I have no problem working with any of the law enforcement agencies in the area, Border Patrol, Customs, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and I believe my insights with all those agencies would be a real asset to the citizens of Precinct 3,” Wancho said.
“I have more than a decade of law enforcement experience. I started off as soon as I was of age to become a peace officer. I grew up in this county, and I love this county. I played sports, high school football, and my main priority is to let people know that I’ll be someone who is just a phone call away,” he said.
“They don’t have to go through a particular department, whose officers might be tied up with something else. I want everyone to know they can call me or text me, whatever they want to do, message me on Facebook and ask, ‘Hey, what can you do over here? What can you do about this problem?’ And if I can’t take care of it, I for sure know people who can,” Wancho said. “I’m very motivated. I’ve been seeking this position for the last six years. Only losing by handful of votes in 2020 to a 12-year incumbent; that kept me motivated. Obviously, I got out there and made an impression, and I want to keep serving the people of Precinct 3 as their constable,” he said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
