By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez has announced the appointment of two new chief deputies who will assist him in managing the wide-ranging responsibilities of the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office.
Martinez named VVSO Lt. Gina Garcia and former county veterans service officer Enrique Reynaldo Trevino to the positions during a brief promotional ceremony held in his office in early March.
“Gina will be on the administrative side, and Enrique will be on the enforcement side. We’ve got a few more details to work out with the organizational structure, but we’re going to move forward, and this is what our leadership is going to look like,” Martinez said.
Martinez then handed Garcia a badge denoting her new position, adding that Trevino’s had been ordered and would be presented later. The sheriff then congratulated both of his new chief deputies.
“I look forward to seeing great things from both of you,” Martinez told the two new chiefs.
Following the ceremony, both chief deputies sat down with The 830 Times to discuss their new roles and responsibilities.
Garcia, who is making history as the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office’s first female chief deputy, joined the VVSO in 2018.
A Del Rio native, Garcia became a Texas peace officer in 2007 after graduating from the Del Rio Police Academy. She then went to work for the Del Rio Police Department as a patrol officer and later served as a detective in the department’s criminal investigations division.
Garcia left the DRPD to join the sheriff’s office in June 2018.
Garcia spoke about her motivation for submitting a letter of interest when Martinez announced he would be selecting a new chief deputy.
“Where I am in my career, I felt like this would be the logical next step. I believed it was the next step, to transition into more of a leadership role with an agency overall from leading a division, like CID (criminal investigations) or special operations. I went from being lieutenant of criminal investigations, to lieutenant of special operations and now chief deputy,” she said.
As the sheriff’s new administrative chief deputy, Garcia will oversee the office’s civilian workforce, court bailiffs, jail monitoring and dispatch operations, among other responsibilities assigned by the sheriff.
Garcia also shared her vision for the role.
“My vision is the same as it has always been: to serve the community and to work alongside the people with me, the men and women of law enforcement in this office, as well as those of other agencies and departments in the community,” she said.
Trevino also brings a background in law enforcement to the chief deputy position.
He pinned on his first badge as a Texas peace officer in the fall of 1997. Like Garcia, he began his career after graduating from the Del Rio Police Academy.
“I was living in Eagle Pass at the time, and I went to work for the Maverick County Constable’s Office for a few months until I got hired by Del Rio PD in February 1998,” Trevino said.
He worked for the DRPD from 1998 until September 2000, when he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety. Trevino retired from DPS in March 2021.
“After retiring, I felt the calling to run for office to bring some of my life experience and business experience and mentorship experience to the community. I came close, and although I didn’t win, it opened up an avenue for me to run the county veterans service office, which I was doing until last week,” Trevino said.
He said he enjoyed his time as the county’s veterans service officer.
“It was a very, very rewarding job, helping our local veterans, which I will continue to do on my own time. That’s never going to go away. We’re a military family. Currently, my little boy is in the Army,” he said.
Trevino also spoke about his vision for his new position.
“I want to commend Gina and the sheriff. They’ve really done an amazing job. Transitioning to this new position has been made easier because everything out here is running as it should. My vision is to come in and help them develop young officers through recruitment and mentorship and to continue the strong education program we have,” he said.
“I also want to develop those officers into long-term peace officers for the county, so grow the patrol people we have to continue in the vision of the entire office, which is to serve the community,” Trevino added.
As chief deputy, Trevino will oversee the law enforcement side of the sheriff’s office — what he called “the badge and gun side” — directing patrol and criminal investigations.
