San Angelo LIVE! Great Debate 2016 round two brought four candidates running for the Chief of Police position on stage to discuss the issues and challenges facing the San Angelo Police Department.
The incumbent, Tim Vasquez, was asked the opening question regarding crime reduction in San Angelo and how three categories: violent crimes, murders, and aggravated assaults have all shown increases in recent years. The question, what would he do if re-elected to stop these numbers from continuing to increase?
Below, a video offering a taste of the exchanges in last night's debate.
“First off, I would say the perception that murder is booming is probably not something that is occurring; there was a slight increase,” Vasquez said.
He mentioned that, a few years ago, there were nine murders recorded one year with the average being three or four a year.
“Murders are a crime of passion. They are very difficult to prevent; they are very difficult to predict,” Vasquez said. “In our community, these happen very sporadically.”
Lt. Mike Hernandez's response to the increase in violent crimes was, with his experience of being a lieutenant on the night shift and having six patrolmen on the streets, not including the sergeant and the lieutenant, there is not enough manpower to fix the spikes in crime.
Hernandez mentioned, during his time working for the narcotics division, that there were up to 10 officers working. Currently, three members work the narcotics division. He went on to say that a separation between divisions that focus on gang violence, narcotics and patrolling as their own individual entity would allow for more of these crimes to be prevented.
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Lt. Frank Carter took a stance that narcotics continue to be the "root of all crime" in the community of San Angelo. He reiterated that there are three narcotics detectives in their division compared to when there were more in previous years.
“I think we need to increase the manpower in our gang unit,” Carter said.
Jeff Davis mentioned that San Angelo has a higher national ranking for burglaries, car thefts and property crime than the state of Texas.
“This affects almost every one of us at some time or another,” Davis said.
Davis also alluded to the idea that it comes back to manpower on the streets to help with crime reduction.
“We have an issue on manpower, even as [Hernandez] has sated. The fact is that patrol is the foundation of our department. We have to build that back up,” Davis said.
Joe Hyde, one of the mediators for the debate, asked Carter about the $17 million budget given to the police by the City of San Angelo, and how about 90 percent of that goes towards payroll.
“If we are going to increase the number of officers, how are we going to pay them?” Hyde asked. “And keep this in mind; the city is experiencing a reduction in their revenue because sales tax revenue is down to about 15 percent.”
“Budgets are always a concern. They need to be transparent,” Carter said. “We need to have an open budget that we can work within. I’m constantly hearing complaints that we’re outside the means of our budget.”
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Carter proposed finding a way to reduce the budget by possibly making some supervising jobs civilianized, reducing their overall salaries to a more reasonable amount for the budget.
Lane Carter, City Council candidate for Single Member District 5, mentioned the idea of reorganizing the budget so the Police Department could work towards a more concise budget. This could help with morale and retention of the officers in the long run.
“You’ve definitely got to look at the budget; it can be reorganized,” Lane Carter said. “I fully believe that between the fire and police, the budgets are going to have to come to an agreement to where we can give them the staffing that they need.”
Regarding the 15 percent reduction in sales tax revenue facing the council, Lane Carter emphasized reorganizing the current officers in the Police Department and getting the manpower from the upper levels of leadership to help out.
“That’s going to show everybody in the long run how this department should be ran,” Lane Carter said.
Davis took the stance that the problems facing the Police Department were not because of manpower, but more the leadership involved in the organization.
“I believe that the Police Department, at this point in time, has been stretched and pushed in all these different directions and doesn’t resemble what it was once,” Davis said.
Vasquez refuted these claims and addressed the 15 percent drop in sale tax revenue and how money is already stretched thin regarding funding from the city council.
“We are 15 percent below on sale tax revenue. Where are we going to get that money? The money is not there and we have to make do with what we’ve got,” Vasquez said. “I believe that our administration, my team, constantly looks at how more efficient we can be.”
Make sure to stay updated with San Angelo LIVE! as we will post the full debate audio and video on this website in the next couple of days.
The Great Debate 2016 for the San Angelo Police Chief election was held Tuesday evening at The RiverView Restaurant, 800 W. Avenue D. The debate was broadcasted live on KGKL 960 AM. Over 150 attended the debate.
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Comments
After 7 years as a civilian in the police department, I know Carter, Vasquez and Hernandez quite well. I also know several of the organizational topics they have referred to and how much truth they speak. The only thing I know about Davis is the nasty, virulent smear campaign he ran several years ago which caused a massive divide in the department that took YEARS to begin healing. (Totally sounds like the kind of guy you want doling out justice, eh?)
We are the only county in the state of Texas that actually elects our Chief of Police.
Other cities have theirs appointed by the City Council members. Did you all SEE how the City Council handled the trash company fiasco, lawsuit and citizen complaints? Yeah.... they join the list of people I sarcastically say should be in charge of our "justice."
Look at the major race riot cities that have been headlining these past few years. The citizens feel displaced from the justice system. They feel oppressed, not governed.
YOU have an opportunity to choose the leader of your local law enforcement. Watch each candidate closely. Watch his actions and listen to your friends' experiences with them to get a true taste of who they are. If he has never gone to your church before and suddenly starts appearing and giving speeches about how his life has changed and God wants him as Chief.... that stench may be the scent of power hungry hypocrite. If they say everything is fine as is or that more upper level management is needed (read: more bosses, less fixers) then you should keep looking. If they are only waiting for their turn to talk instead of genuinely listening, say goodbye.
My candidate of choice is Frank Carter. I'm not saying he HAS to be yours too. But I am saying he would be a fantastic leader, not an opressor. He is a calm, rational headed thinker- even in hot situations.
Do your research, then vote.
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