SACPA Calls out Union
A diverse coalition of community leaders, activists, and residents, the San Antonio Coalition for Police Accountability (SACPA), condemned the comments by the new head of the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association (SAPOA) John Diaz. In an apparent attempt to discredit the petition movement, which recently turned in over 20,000 signatures, to change policing policies that have allowed bad cops to remain with SAPD, Diaz resorted to a series of falsehoods. The SAPOA claimed that people circulating the referendum petition are dividing the community when in fact nothing divides our community more than a collective bargaining agreement that allows SAPOA to rehire repeat offender officers.
The police association accusations included verbal attacks, which are reminiscent of Klan misinformation; that the petition campaign was being conducted by people from “out of town” when in fact the petition leadership and volunteers are from San Antonio. Unfortunately, SAPOA President John Diaz repeated this hogwash. At the same time, white privilege ignores the fact that racist officers are in local law enforcement and some in “Back the Blue” groups.
Diaz has also claimed that petitioners have threatened people. This is more hog wash. The petitioners have not threatened anyone, but there is film footage and photos of SAPD officers threatening petitioners and Black Lives Matters protesters. Diaz seeks to make a false equivalency; that is anyone that criticizes bad officers is supposedly “anti-police.” That is non-sense. SAPOA has sunk to a new low level by making these false claims.
We witnessed how false claims by leaders, repeated and amplified by enablers, caused an attack at the U.S. Capitol. This is a reminder that deploying such language can produce white supremacist attacks from insurrectionists that on many occasions have attached themselves to police associations. SAPOA’s bunk remarks included the Trumpian lie that those seeking justice in improving police policies and accountability are part of a “Defund the Police” movement, when the petition movement and this coalition have never supported this language.
We support the Police Chief in his attempt to remove the 180 day statute of limitations for bad cops to be disciplined. No one is against good cops, but the SAPOA insists on protecting bad cops. Additionally, the coalition is requesting that the city release the number of complaints filed by good officers against bad ones.
There is more. The Chief’s Civilian Review Board is completely ineffectual. It was drafted during the tenure of former SAPOA President Harold Flammia. Flammia later plead “guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges for accepting $500,000 in kickbacks” from the legal fund. Incredibly, “Flammia’s wife, who was never charged with her husband’s crimes” served as head of the Internal Affairs Unit of the SAPD.
We are aware that the arbitrators being used by the City and SAPOA may not be so “Neutral” as they claim. The arbitrators used seem to have a history of going soft on bad cops. One biased arbitrator, that other police departments may be using, determined the use of the N-word in encounters with citizens was insufficient to cost an SAPD officer his job. This arbitrator should be removed from being called upon as he shows a bias toward use of one of the most abusive words in the English language. No SAPD officers should feel entitled to disparage citizens in the black community or any community.
The coalition is fighting for justice. Horrible abuses at the hands of law enforcement have taken place over many decades, by bad officers and often racist officers, and have gotten away with it. I support collective bargaining but not a contract that allows abusive officers to escape criminal or even civil liability.
