San Antonio Human and Civil Rights Coalition: Has Not Received Files

By Mario Marcel Salas

On October 31, 2007 the San Antonio Coalition on Human and Civil Rights (the Coalition) put into the hands of Police Chief William McManus, City Manager Sheryl Sculley, and Mayor Phil Hardberger a copy of a request, under the Texas Open Records Act, of some eleven elements that relate to data that is needed by the Coalition to begin research on police abuse. The Coalition is interested in statistics on the question of abuse, the crookedness at the Internal Affairs Department (IAD), and the orchestrated setup that the San Antonio Police Officers Association (SAPOA) have instituted through its collective bargaining arrangement of the Citizen Action Advisory Board (CAAB) and IAD. The legal process obligates the City of San Antonio to respect the request for records within 10 days, but as of this date no records have been given! The City of San Antonio appears not to working in good faith with a large array of Civil Rights groups that are trying to give the police chief and the City room to mend the problem.

A succeeding email was sent and a certified letter making the request for a second and third time. The ten-day period has slipped! What this could mean is that the City of San Antonio is holding some records back because they would be deleterious and perhaps show a record of abuse, or a record of incorrectly filed reports. The SAPD has maintained that there have been only infrequent abuse cases, but this does not square with undeniable police abuse complaints that the Coalition is receiving. The real reason why there are sparse official reports is because people are being misdirected to places where the filing will not be made official. The only division where a report of police mistreatment can be officially filed is with the Internal Affairs Department (IAD), but that too is rigged in favor of police who beat people up and have stripped them naked on city streets. Residents are being urged not to call officers' supervisor, as this is a deceitful effort to misdirect and block an official complaint from being filed. Additionally, this setup may be border on official corruption, which could result in an official Federal investigation.

The City of San Antonio City Attorney's Office, headed up by Michael Bernard, has evidently exercised its option of asking for a State Attorney General's ruling, which means that the request for records could take up to 90 days. This would mean that the records requested could be postponed up until January of 2008. What does the city have to camouflage? Why are the records not being given to the Coalition? These questions may inevitably end up in Federal Court if the City does not bring forward what the law allows. Since the City of San Antonio did not acknowledge the request in a punctual manner the Coalition asked a second time on November 11, 2007 via email (electronic transmission) for the records. Furthermore, a certified letter was sent on the same day that requires the City Attorney's office to acknowledge the request. Some Coalition members perceive that since the city was given the request at a meeting, there may be an attempt to negate that they were ever given the petition, but there were at least 20 spectators who observed the request letter being handed to the three city officials. So it seems more likely that the appeal is being denied until the Texas Attorney General can rule on it. The Coalition had asked the City to tell the Coalition that the request was being passed on to the Attorney General if the 10-day rule was not going to be followed, but nothing has been communicated to the Coalition except an email acceptance of the second request.

The Coalition continues to urge citizens to report police abuse to the American Civil Liberties Union, the Neighborhoods First Alliance, LULAC, the NAACP, and other others. This is being done because one cannot expect an impartial response from the IAD or the CAAB. Moreover, the IAD and the CAAB are compromised so completely that these boards linger as a total farce. The integrity of IAD is non-existent for it is controlled and jeopardizes by the SAPOA, while the CAAB has Dan Martinez on its board. Martinez can hardly be said to be a disinterested observer when he is also a member of a crime coalition. This makes Martinez's presence on the CAAB a conflict of interest, and one in which Dan Martinez would be hard pressed to minister a decision against police abuse because of his biased connections. In light of these injustices the Coalition is asking that if you have been a victim of police abuse to call the Neighborhoods First Alliance at 226-9041, the ACLU at 226-8707, the Esperanza Center at 228-0201, LULAC at 733-5454, or the NAACP - 224-7636. Please indicate that you wish to file a San Antonio Human and Civil Rights complaint on the Coalition's form.

[Open records request can be found below the cut.]

The following request was made to the Chief of Police, City Manager, and the Mayor on October 31, 2007 at Mt. Zion First Baptist Church Meeting.

Ref: Open Records Act Request

Dear City Manager Sculley and Chief McManus:

Please provide us the following information as provided by law:

1. Every Use of Force form filed by any and all SAPD Officers in the last five years.
2. The public portion of all civil service files of any and all SAPD Officers who have been disciplined by the SAPD for violations of policy related to excessive force and illegal body cavity searches in the last five years.
3. Records of any complaint filed by any citizen claiming the excessive use of force and the complaint was sustained by CAAB in the last five years.
4. Any and all reports required by SAPD to file with any state or federal agency in the last five years.
5. Any report or study performed by or for the SAPD on racial profiling.
6. Any and all complaints of any kind filed against the Tactical Response Unit in the last two years.
7. Any and all reports that indicate that any citizen under arrest was transported to the hospital after arrest.
8. Any and all reports indicating that a citizen was treated at the City Magistrate's Office for injury while under arrest.
9. Any and all reports indicating that a citizen and/or arrestee was rejected from the Magistrate's office because of injuries.
10. The current City of San Antonio/SAPOA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
11. Any and all correspondence between the SAPD and the PERF organization in Washington, D.C.

Sincerely,

Mario Salas
San Antonio Coalition on Human and Civil Rights
210-254-0062

Cc: Congressman John Conyers