SAN ANTONIO – Castle Hills police say they have a new tool to catch speeding drivers, which many people may never see coming.
It’s an unmarked, sporty-looking Ford Mustang that hit the city’s streets a little more than a month ago.
The so-called “ghost” unit is emblazoned with lettering identifying it as a police car, but it’s only visible from certain angles.
“When they see the traffic unit as an unmarked Mustang, they just view it as another car on the roadway,” said Sgt. Gary Tomblin, explaining how drivers may be taken by surprise.
A single officer, Gabriel Galan, mans the flashy car during daytime hours.
At night, a different officer is designated to watch the streets for drivers who are ignoring the rules of the road.
“We deploy it into areas of the city that we’ve noticed higher speeding, accidents, road rage incidents, school zones,” Tomblin said. “Just on his own, (Galan) is averaging upwards of 300, 350 citations a month.”
Tomblin said the city’s biggest trouble spots for speeders include Northwest Military Highway, West Avenue and a stretch of Loop 410 that runs through Castle Hills.
Tyler Grona was traveling along Northwest Military Highway Thursday morning when she suddenly saw flashing lights in her rearview mirror.
“I was, like, ‘is that real?’ And then walked up. I was, like, ‘nice car!’” she said. “I wasn’t expecting (the officer) to come out of a Mustang.”
Grona was accused of making a common mistake for drivers in that area: believing that Northwest Military Highway, as its name implies, is an actual highway.
In reality, the speed limit on that Castle Hills street is only 35 miles per hour.
“He said that I was going 45 (mph), but I looked down, and I was going 35 (mph) because I was trying to be good,” she said.
Grona ended up driving off with only a warning instead of a citation.
But she said she did learn a valuable lesson.
“Don’t speed on Northwest Military … or any road,” Grona said, correcting herself.
While 350 citations per month may seem like a lot, the City of San Antonio, by comparison, issues more than ten times that amount.
Data provided by the San Antonio Police Department show that the department issued, on average, more than 4,100 tickets per month in 2025.
Figures for the first nine months of this year average out to about the same number.
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