San Angelo Police Chief Vasquez Challenges Opponent Lt. Carter to Debate

San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez challenged his opponent Frank Carter to a debate at a press conference held inside City Hall this morning.

Vasquez, the incumbent police chief candidate, is in a contentious run-off election campaign with one of his lieutenants, Frank Carter. Early voting begins June 20, and Election Day is July 2. San Angelo is the only municipality in Texas that elects, rather than appoints, its police chief.

According to Vasquez, two debates were proposed on specific dates by local media and were canceled. “It has been brought to my attention this is because of my opponent’s refusal to appear. According to my information, it was made clear that alternate dates could be found, but his refusal to participate is not based on scheduling conflicts.”

We confirmed with KLST-TV and KSAN-TV that the television stations attempted to schedule a 30-minute televised candidate forum for the police chief election but Carter would not participate. Twice San Angelo LIVE! also asked Carter to participate in a debate partnered with Townsquare Media’s KGKL-960 AM. He turned us down twice.

“I believe that (his refusal) is at the very least a failure to understand the public trust,” Vasquez said. “And because of the huge impact this election has for the future of our community, and (police) organization, we the voters deserve the opportunity to hear from us on the issues at stake.”

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Vasquez argued that the forums and debates leading up to the general election did not adequately vet the programs and policies his opponent Frank Carter is proposing because of time constraints and the number of candidates.

“In the forums and debates held during the run up to the general election, time restraints inevitably meant that many ideas were introduced without having to stand up to any real scrutiny,” he said. “Also, with what essentially was three versus one, all of the time was spent questioning our (Vasquez administration’s) methods, and very little was allowed for delving into Lt. Carter’s proposed changes.”

“I understand that you are accustomed to communication and transparency from your police chief, and I encourage you to demand the same from any candidate for this important office,” Vasquez concluded.

Jeff Rottman of KKSA-AM asked for Vasquez’s response to the recently released Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) survey. Vasquez promised an in-depth response next week. He also highlighted positive indicators uncovered by the survey.

“What was not reported about the survey was that it reports that 84 percent of officers are happy with their current assignment and 64 percent are happy to spend their entire career at SAPD,” Vasquez said. “So while a large percentage disagreed that morale was high, they did not say that morale was low either.”

Vasquez said the survey was accomplished in “typical union fashion,” encompassing boilerplate complaints about “pay and complaints about the City of San Angelo not treating all employees fairly, even though the officers are about to receive a significant pay raise while the rest of the City employees do not. The City is also entering a hiring freeze due to tax revenue shortages.”

“No, we haven’t singled out San Angelo at all,” Chance said. “We did the survey on the request of the (local) association, as a matter of fact, both associations (Texas Municipal Police Association, or TMPA), all got together to do a survey and then approached us. We’re not in the business of just starting a survey on our own. So we did the survey based on their request,” Chance said.

“We used the same Survey Monkey survey, but it’s tailored by each association,” he said.

But a recent survey conducted in Abilene was different, Chance said. “I did Abilene’s as well, and the reason we did a paper survey is because they were afraid of retaliation from within. So they chose to do a handwritten survey,” he said.

Chance said he could not speak on why the former San Angelo Coalition of Police (SACOP) president Cade Solsbery recently resigned when asked if his resignation was in protest to the way the decision was made by the local chapter of CLEAT to conduct a survey during a contentious police chief election campaign.

Sgt. Doug Thomas, the newest president of SACOP was standing next to Chance. He said every member of SACOP voted in favor of conducting the survey.

Vasquez interrupted. “Was it every member, or just the board?”

“Every member,” Thomas said.

“So every member had a paper ballot, and every member voted on it?” Vasquez pressed.

“Yes, sir,” Thomas replied.

Frank Carter did not answer or return our phone call or text messages asking for his response.

The press conference started shortly after 10 a.m. Friday morning.

Update May 27 at 4 p.m.

The City of San Angelo Public Information Officer Anthony Wilson clarified the City Manager's current view on pay raises and a hiring freeze. 

"The City continues to actively recruit applicants to fill all job vacancies. Although a hiring freeze could happen in light of decreased sales tax collections, a freeze has not occurred and is not imminent," Wilson stated in an email.

Vasquez is correct that through negotiations in last year's Meet and Confer process, a substantial pay raise was negotiated for SAPD officers.

"Pay raises for (other) City employees will not be determined until this summer, when the City Council will discuss and approve a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1," Wilson stated. 

"The discussion will include funding the salary increases for police officers negotiated through the Meet & Confer agreement," Wilson added.

Update May 27 at 4:21 p.m.

SACOP walks back claim that "all voted" to conduct survey

In a statement released earlier this afternoon, SACOP interim president Sgt. Doug Thomas noted that SACOP "members of both unions voted to conduct the survey." Earlier today, Thomas said all members voted to approve the decision to conduct a survey. His statement: 

The SACOP (San Angelo Coalition of Police), which is the local chapter organization of CLEAT (the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas), in cooperation with SAPOA ( the San Angelo Police Officers Association), TMPA (the Texas Municipal Police Association) affiliated organization, recently conducted a Management Survey of the San Angelo Police Department.

Prior to conducting the survey, both local associations held special called meetings and members of both unions voted to conduct the survey.  

On April 20th 2016, the survey was conducted through a widely used survey software program. The survey was provided to all sworn officers who are members of either local association and not elected or appointed in their current position.   

Prior to the public release of the survey, the motion was presented to both memberships of the local associations and they overwhelmingly voted to release the results publicly.

It should be noted that NO member observed the results prior to the release to the public.

Objectively, the membership voted to release the information not knowing the results and to willingly accept the results, whatever they were.

The members of SACOP and SAPOA joined in this effort to conduct a fair and honest assessment of their department and its leadership.

All voting was conducted in accordance with organizational policies and by-laws.

The local associations represent the Police Officers who work at the San Angelo Police Department and provide a voice for those Officers.

Sgt. Doug Thomas
Interim, SACOP President