The San Antonio Coalition for Police Accountability is calling the May 1st city election, Ballot Proposition B, to remove the San Antonio Police Officer’s Association’s ability to protect bad cops a civil and human rights issue. The Coalition maintains that numerous attempts to discredit and harass members of FIXSAPD have been made in San Antonio against petitioners who gathered signatures to remove Chapter 174 in a ballot measure that will be before the voters on May 1st. The required 20,000 signatures of registered voters and citizens were certified by the City of San Antonio to remove an association that cares little about the concerns of the citizens. Civil Rights leaders, petitioners, and non-violent volunteers are gravely concerned about the harassment and threats by persons identifying themselves as San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) officers, or who were wearing clothes with SAPD patches, or those of the Texas Freedom Force.The FBI has identified the Texas Freedom Force as an “extremist militia” and has arrested a member in Dallas for participation in the Capitol Riot.
Now that the petition has been certified, citizens have begun to support this effort by encouraging voters to vote yes for proposition B on May 1, 2921. Many of the non-violent petitioners, volunteers, and supporters say they have been followed and sometimes stopped and falsely accused of misrepresenting the purpose of the voter turnout effort to the citizens. There is great concern because the harassment, intimidation tactics, and false statements by SAPOA appear to be increasing. Civil rights leaders and supporters of civil liberties are concerned that members of racist groups and racially biased officers are members of SAPD as witnessed by one officer that repeatedly used the “N” word and was never disciplined as a result of a contract that protects bad officers.
The San Antonio Police Officer’s Association (SAPOA) has made numerous false statements that claim those seeking justice and accountability are anti-police. However, those of us with police officers in our families know how important it is to get rid of bad cops. Also, SAPOA is using leaflets that attempt to characterize support for getting rid of the association that protects bad cops as rioters by depicting those seeking justice with racist leaflets being placed on people’s doors. Additionally, this same leaflet projects a false image that those seeking redress, guaranteed by the Constitution, are somehow trying to get rid of all police. These lies are reminiscent of the old KKK-styled racist propaganda used to thwart the civil rights movement.
The Coalition is asking for an FBI investigation of SAPD officers that have engaged in abuse, intimidation, and racist acts and have gone unpunished and under the radar because of a contract in force by the San Antonio Police Officer’s Association (SAPOA). The coalition has sent this request for a federal investigation at a time when the Congress has passed the George Floyd Act that is now pending in the Senate. With this police association our community is not safe as bad police officers are fired and then rehired. This request comes with data that shows there is a pattern of large numbers of unarmed people being killed, many of whom are shot in the back over the years. The contract in effect between the City of San Antonio and the police association is one that is used to perpetuate human and civil rights violations.
