Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis sees city as second family
Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis in front of the offices of The Picayune Magazine, DailyTrib.com, and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune in Marble Falls. Staff photo by Isabella Cutler
This story was written by Isabella Cutler, a junior at Marble Falls High School, and Kate Dooley, a junior at Faith Academy of Marble Falls. They volunteered as reporters at DailyTrib.com and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune on Thursday, Jan. 26, as part of the Rotary Club of Marble Falls 2023 career day program.
Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis is devoted to creating a safe environment for and building meaningful relationships with the people in his community. Though he’s only been chief since September 2022, he’s worked for the department for nearly 12 years.
Ortis is active in the community and prioritizes helping whenever and wherever he can. Granite Shoals is a safe place now, he said, but that wasn’t always the case. Over his career with the department, he has made huge strides in building the relationships necessary to make his city what it is today.
“When I was overseas, kids would see me and they would come to me,” he said. “So, here I am, in Granite Shoals and kids are running from me, and that bothered me.”
Prior to being a police officer, Ortis served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. He was disturbed by the contrast between his experiences overseas versus back home in Granite Shoals.
After those initial experiences, he started carrying around stickers to hand out to kids and spare soccer balls to kick around to build the fundamental connections between police officers and the children of Granite Shoals that seemed to be lacking. He would spend the next decade working to change how he and the other officers were viewed by the community.
“If I can change the kids’ perspective of what a police officer is, then I thought it would make Granite Shoals a better place,” he said.
Slowly but surely, things changed thanks to these efforts. Ortis used to draw his gun every night but now can’t recall the last time he pulled it. Kids used to run from passing patrol cars and now they wave, he said. Ortis went from doing drug busts nightly to writing the occasional speeding ticket.
The city has changed a lot and become a safer place overall, Ortis said. He treats the people of Granite Shoals like his second family and continues to work hard to maintain a bond between the department and the community.
“I’m a family guy, and I believe in a family atmosphere,” he said.