San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
My take on Prop B, as the wife of an officer
In 2009, I married the love of my life — a San Antonio police officer.
I was a single mom and an Express-News reporter and columnist at the time, and I shared our story of meeting during Fiesta; and the following year, getting married on a barge during the Fiesta Cavaliers River Parade.
At that time, my husband, now a detective who has for nearly three decades served in various units and roles, was a bicycle officer downtown. I marveled at how everyone downtown — from the restaurant owners to the Majestic Theatre and Rivercenter Mall staff to the homeless people — seemed to know and love him. He was the first officer I got to know, and he challenged everything I thought to be true of police.
Before, I viewed officers as authoritative and aggressive, but not because of any specific experience. I would feel anxious when dealing with them for speeding tickets.
That fear was nothing compared with what some Americans endure with officers. The headlines of officers not living up to their oaths to protect and serve are constant. Each case is unique, and we often don’t understand or see all of the details, but just reading and watching tragic story after tragic story is difficult. Yes, even for the wife of a police officer; even for officers.
I struggled with whether to write this column, but how many Editorial Board members are married to police officers? I am Hispanic and my husband is Black, so my perspective is unique.
I left my job as a teacher to join the Express-News Editorial Board a couple of months ago, and during my interviews, I was told by my publisher and editor that I would be recused from conversations involving Editorial Board decisions regarding police. I understood the conflict and I wasn’t surprised.
When I began, the Board was already weighing Proposition B — a measure the Board tepidly endorsed that would have stripped the union of its right to collectively bargain with the city on wages and other benefits, and could have given the city more latitude in disciplinary process for suspending or firing officers. I don’t completely agree with the Board’s position, but I respect it. I understand it.
Last weekend’s close election results yielded just a slight edge against Proposition B — 51 percent — a reflection of the city’s division on police reform. I agree reform is needed.
I am no law enforcement or San Antonio Police Department expert, but here’s what I know. I know my husband and the majority of officers joined law enforcement because they wanted to protect and serve. My husband grew up in Brooklyn and became an officer there because he wanted to be different than the policing that he witnessed growing up — each officer has their reason.
Officers are brave and they make sacrifices big and small in service to the community. Their jobs are beyond challenging, especially now, as they are all judged for the inexcusable actions of some. They hate to hear about officers doing wrong, and they want these officers to be held accountable. They understand officers are held to a higher moral standard, as they should be. And they wouldn’t change any of it.
Officers are human. They are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, parents, friends and community members. They have their talents, quirks and faults. Many, like my husband, are people of color with their own complicated backgrounds.
But most importantly, officers have heart — and the overwhelming majority of them show it, on and off duty. They do their best to respond when residents — many of whom rally against the police — call on law enforcement when they need to investigate cases, even, especially, when situations are dangerous.
They know the election results aren’t the end of the Proposition B story. They will go on in doing what they took an oath to do. There is still work to do, progress to be made, relationships to build and a city to serve.