Retiree Arthur Trevino responds to Clancy's letter

To: The thinning Blue line.

Two years ago the Crime Control and Prevention District temporary Board of Directors conducted Due Diligence investigation by visiting the Ft. Worth TX Police Department and the Corpus Christi TX Police department where Crime Control and Prevention Districts were authorized by the Legislature. The statue called for these taxing districts to be dissolved at the end of the second year if not voted in again by the voters. The first time out to the voters the CCPD in these cities just barely won in both cities. The proof was in the pudding. Crime was reduced significantly the first 2 year term of existence and overwhelmingly voted back in by the voters in both of those cities on the 2nd and 3rd time by 77% and 86% respectively.

Each member of our Board made presentations wherever people would listen and also made presentations to role calls in the MAP room at Police Hqtrs. We presented to City Council in several “B” sessions and tried convincing them that although this was an ambitious goal we believed it could be attained if the “right people” would carry the banner for us. We needed their support before we went to the voters. We reported our findings and the results from Ft. Worth and Corpus Christi and knew that the programs that we were proposing would reduce crime significantly in the first 2 year period with the addition of several hundred more officers. We had good support from Mayor Hardberger at the beginning of our publicity campaign. For some reason that support weaned slowly then more rapidly when the council members began foaming at the mouth just thinking what they could do in the first year by divvying up an 11 million dollar pie among themselves. Council insisted that the money be divvied up equally among the council members and the Mayor. There was no way to achieve this because some programs that were planned were needed in areas where juvenile crime, crime on seniors and gang activity were epidemic. We could not and would not fund murals or the “arts” with these revenues.

We tried getting a commitment from each council member; that they would appoint a permanent Board of directors who would manage the Crime Control and Prevention District revenues and programs funded by the ¼ cent tax increase. Our stipulation was that if the money was allocated to a certain program that did not produce positive results, that program would be de-funded. Another stipulation was that politics be left out and for the council not to expect that a CCPD Board member although appointed by a particular council member, would agree to fund programs where they were needed, not necessarily for the district his councilperson represented. In other words, some council districts would receive very little funding while others would receive a substantial amount; all depending on the need to reduce crime. It made good sense. Apparently the council did not agree.

Chief Al Ortiz carried the banner for the Board and gave a convincing presentation to City Council. He made it very clear that the numbers of active police officers that the city carried on their books for the public to see, took into account those officers who had been activated to the Middle East, those that were on administrative leave, long term sick leave, suspension or on pregnancy leave; that the city was also counting the vacancies on the books as active police officers. These people were not attending role calls or policing our streets. The vacant positions were not receiving pay checks. That money was going in to the General Fund. The Board went to the community at large with this information and several proposals that the ¼ cent revenue collected would provide; Some of these were the immediate “Back-filling” of 125 police positions then increasing that number of Police officers by 500 more to include equipment (weapon, vests, yes even cars purchased with these revenues) within two years; re-assigning SAFE officers back to their respective units as requested by neighborhood associations and adding additional SAFE officers to five targeted community service centers where they could be close to the neighborhood and provide a positive role model for at-risk youngsters; a graffiti eradication program; provided for the creation of a centrally located Senior one stop service center staffed with Police officers, Detectives and Assistant District Attorney personnel; where seniors could go file their Police report, look at photo line ups, give their statement and sign the complaint with a DA Assistant all at one location; provided for special teams of fraud detectives/D.A prosecutors to pursue Scam artists who prey on the elderly on home improvement schemes, identity theft and assaults on the elderly; add an addition fifty (50) new Gang Squad officers to the 10 member squad they had at that time. There were several other proposals (Specialized training for Police officers). The bulk of the ¼ cent tax would be spent on SAPD manpower and equipment.

Our CCPD temporary Board of Directors went out and visited almost every Home Owners and Neighborhood Association, the Express-News editorial board, the editor and staff of La Prensa, the Chamber of commerce, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and police sub-stations. We gave presentations on these proposals before going to the voters for a city wide vote. Invariably, those members of the Chambers of Commerce, the Editorial Boards, HOAs and neighborhood associations asked us at those meetings, if we could guarantee that the city council would not divide the money 11 ways and squander the money on their pet programs. We had not received a commitment from the majority of the council so we could not in good conscience make that guarantee. I’m sure you are aware that the CCPD was voted down by the voters. As much as they would have wanted the crime control and prevention programs, voters did not trust the City Council. One hundred percent of those citizens told us at these presentations and at the voting precincts on Voting day that they had faith in and strongly supported our San Antonio Police Officers and wanted the best training and equipment for them, but they did not trust their respective Greedy Council Members.

Art Treviño, CPP
Secretary, Board of Directors
Crime Control and Prevention District

CCPD Chairman, Rober Marbut Jr.
CCPD Vice Chair, Ray Hamilton