Police groups rally against ballot measure
Over glasses of margaritas and plates of Mexican food, police union supporters rallied Sunday against Proposition B, a measure on the May 1 ballot that would repeal police officers’ right to negotiate contracts with the city.
Danny Diaz, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, called the measure a form of defunding the police that would hurt officer recruitment, slow response times and lead to a rise in crime.
“This is not Minneapolis. This is not Seattle,” Diaz said into the mic before a crowd of about 200 on the patio of Viola’s Ventanas in Westover Hills. “This is San Antonio and we back the blue.”
Behind him were leaders of Hispanic and Black police officer associations and dozens of officers who had also expressed their opposition to the measure.
If approved, Proposition B would remove from the city charter its granting of the right to collective bargaining to police officers, though it would not change the same arrangement with the city’re firefighters.
The local police union has used the process to ensure competitive pay, health insurance coverage, retirement benefits and other incentives such as bonuses for speaking another language or returning to college and earning a degree.
But the contract also covers
disciplinary procedures, and an organization called Fix SAPD gathered more than 20,000 signatures to get Prop. B on the ballot by arguing that collective bargaining has made it too difficult to fire San Antonio Police Department officers for misconduct.
Under the current system San Antonio has had to rehire dismissed officers at a much greater rate than other major Texas cities, the group said in a flyer that was
being distributed door to door by its volunteers Sunday. Passage of the ballot measure would result in “less bad apples” on the force, it said.
“Look, we have our issues, but not the same issues that other cities do,” said U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-san Antonio. “We are a family and we have to vote against Prop. B. If we don’t, then it starts here and it’ll never end.”
Alonzio Hardin, president of
the San Antonio Black Officers Coalition and a 13-year SAPD veteran, likened Prop. B to “throwing out the baby with the bath water.”
Hardin said officers are willing to sit down and talk about disciplinary problems, but the ballot measure goes after their livelihoods and how they support their families.
“I believe in this department. I’m sincere about this department and I, as a Black man, will not turn the other cheek if I see police brutality or any mishandling of people in my community. It’s just not going to happen on my watch. In my family, I’m the first Black police officer that they love, but I am that example.”
Elena Rodriguez, president of the police wives auxiliary group, said the department is already understaffed and taking away contract bargaining power would make it even harder to recruit good officers.
“I feel like there are bad people in every profession and if you ask any of these officers out here they’ll tell you they don’t want them on the force, either,” she said.
“Let’s make the training tougher,” Rodriguez said, adding that in recent years hiring requirements have been loosened to make up for waning interest in law enforcement as a career.
The union and the city are currently negotiating a new contract, and city officials are pushing for changes in the department’s disciplinary rules.
If the contract is negotiated, ratified by union members and adopted by City Council before the election, and then voters decide May 1 to repeal collective bargaining rights, the contract would remain in effect and collective bargaining would end after it expires.
The last day to register to vote for the May 1 election is April 1.