SAPOA Is The Real Problem

By Mario Marcel Salas

Editor's note: A couple of weeks ago I published
information concerning the public body cavity
search of Paschal Evans, a 27 year old Black man,
by San Antonio police. Professor Salas provides
some background to this and other human rights
abuses by San Antonio police. ---BG

The San Antonio Police Officers Association is the real problem in the matter of police abuse. Why? Because the police association under the leadership of Teddy Stewart is starting to resemble that of convicted felon Harold Flammia. Harold Flammia was the head of the SAPOA and was convicted of crimes that he committed as a police officer and was sent to prison. Flammia was at the helm when the City of San Antonio was in a police abuse crisis. Under Flammia anyone saying anything "negative" about police officers, even if they were thug officers, then the association would engage in threats and intimidation against those that filed complaints. This created an atmosphere of fear and authoritarianism. This brings us to Teddy Stewart, the current political boss of the association. Stewart is running around the community calling people names because community organizations and individuals are refusing to roll over and sanction bad apple cops.

The head of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, Teddy Stewart, foolishly and with a flare for idiocy, called those who are taking a stand against police abuse "Cop Haters." This attack is also being bandied around by one of their henchmen, Dan Martinez, who is parroting the foolishness of the SAPOA president. Dan Martinez should be removed from CAAB as he has sent out emails to the press, and as a member of the CAAB has expressed this same foolishness as Teddy Stewart. Some are questioning if Martinez is violating the cities ethics ordinance by making biased remarks when he is supposed to be unbiased. In a letter to the press, Dan Martinez showed how foolish he can be when referring to citizens complaining about being subjected to brutality. He said, " they fuel mistrust and hatred toward the police in the community." The only thing fueling mistrust and hatred are rogue police officers that are beating and strip-searching innocent people on public streets. Maybe Mr. Martinez should be stripped searched naked on the hood of a police car and then let's see what he has to say. Incidentally, City Council woman Sheila McNeil emphatically stated to this writer that she had nothing to do with putting Dan Martinez on the CAAB. A person with biases and reckless comments like this should be removed from the board immediately.

Most police officers want to do a good job and go home to their family and love ones just like the rest of us. The civil rights community respects these officers, but we are not talking about the majority of officers who obey the law. The San Antonio Civil and Human Rights Coalition is referring to those bad apple cops that Teddy Stewart and the SAPOA want to protect. Unfortunately for Teddy Stewart, and those that think like him, this community cannot and will not respect police officers that abuse innocent people. This is why Teddy Stewart's remarks are in the least foolishness and at best a sophomoric attempt at propaganda. Teddy Stewart's remark can only further polarize the community, and is a mean spirited attempt to propagandize the public. The SAPOA should not be allowed to police itself on any board, or in the Internal Affairs Department. His remarks will not deter the community from seeking justice when bad apple cops break the law and abuse citizens.

Teddy Stewart should immediately apologize for spreading falsehoods that can only make the problem worse. The city has given the SAPOA too much power in protecting bad apples; this should not have happened. We do believe that Police Chief McManus is trying to address the problem, but he in an up hill battle to fix a broken system that the SAPOA wants to keep broken. The outside non-independent group that the Chief is recommending to review police policy may not solve the problem if nothing is done and people continue to be abused! If the City cannot fix the problem, then the Justice Department should come and mediate the problem. No matter what the outside group says it will still be a tainted report, because it will be the same old story of police policing themselves. I can't wait to hear their report! In the meantime, the Civil and Human Rights Coalition will continue to take complaints from people that cannot get justice from the CAAB or Internal Affairs. Call 614-6400 and ask for attorney Patrick Filyk if you have been abused.

In regards to attorney James Myart, it looks as if DA Susan Reed is angry with Myart. After all Myart has repeated the rumor that Susan Reed is an "alcoholic." It would seem that Reed might have a personal vendetta going on under these circumstances. This would make the community concerned about what sort of justice Susan Reed is dishing out. Not everyone thinks Myart is doing a bad job. According to former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, "James Myart has done incredible work on behalf of the people, exposing what's wrong in San Antonio. In fact, unfortunately, San Antonio is little different than too many other cities across this country where rogue police attacks on the poor and black and Latino men in particular have become an epidemic. I am working with lawyers in New York to make sure that the situation in San Antonio becomes known to authorities at the United Nations. In the meantime, James Myart has drawn attention to a problem of abuse and the authorities never appreciate when the truth is told on them." San Antonio may finally make it "big time," not for being a class act city, but for being a city that is cowed by the SAPOA that thinks its alright to abuse citizens.

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Mario Marcel Salas was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1949 to an Afro-Mexican father and a mixed race mother. He graduated from Phyllis Wheatley High School, an African American segregated school. Soon after high school he joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and became a civil rights worker for over 30 years. He was the leader of the last SNCC-Black Panther chapter in the United States in 1976. Salas is now a full time professor at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio teaching American and State government. Mr. Salas is a prolific writer as he writes for three African American Newspapers in Texas. He speaks across the country at various colleges and universities.