James C. Harrington, attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, Lindsey Bishop and Carolyn Clark in front of the Federal Courthouse in San Antonio on September 14, 2009. The lesbian couple filed a federal suit after a police raid on their home for a non-existent drug lab ended with the two women being handcuffed for two hours while they were harrassed by police on the scene. (Photo by Antonia Padilla)

Report cites SAPD mistreatment of women, minorities, gays
QSanAntonio.com, August 26, 2011

A report released on August 25 by the Texas Civil Rights Project titled, "Police Misconduct in San Antonio," describes a police culture where "SAPD officers are quick to protect each other, but are not as responsive to the needs of community members, particularly when those members come from poor, vulnerable, and marginalized populations."

"A string of incidents in the past few years has revealed a troubling pattern of misconduct by San Antonio police officers, ranging from illegal searches and sexual misconduct to unresponsiveness and indifference to victims. The thread connecting these incidents is the fact that better supervision, accountability, and transparency by SAPD could have prevented them." reads the first paragraph of the report.

The report goes on to document incidents of sexual misconduct by individual policemen and a failure of officers to respond to situations with unwarranted aggression and apathy toward victims of rape and domestic violence.

In the past few years, individual officers have been caught sexually harassing women, having sex with arrested individuals and in the case of one cop, showing up at the home of a victim in hopes of getting a date with her.

One policeman used to go "offline" during his work day to have sex with his girlfriend in his police cruiser, while his buddies in the department covered for him. Another raped a transgender woman while she was handcuffed.

In discussing a situation where police interacted with two lesbians the report describes a harrowing situation:

"Aggressive tactics can also combine with personal biases to unnecessarily escalate a situation. On April 28, 2009, a group of nine San Antonio police officers conducted a raid at the Leon Valley home of a lesbian couple. Without knocking, the officers broke down the couple’s door with guns drawn, accompanied by drug-sniffing dogs. The officers were searching for a man named Randy and evidence of a methamphetamine lab. Their search and questioning failed to turn up any evidence of “Randy” or of any narcotics, and it quickly became apparent that they had gone to the wrong place or the informant’s information was wrong or conjured up. Instead of releasing the two women, however, the officers chose to keep them handcuffed and spent two hours harassing and humiliating them. They were never read their Miranda rights." (Click here for related story.)

In this case, the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a federal suit against the SAPD. However, the suit was dismissed on the grounds that the officer's had executed the search warrant in "good faith" and that their conduct was not constitutionally egregious. An appeal is pending.

In analyzing the SAPD's problems, the report states that the organization "suffers from a systemic lack of supervision and accountability that allows serious incidents of misconduct to arise." The result is that cops on the beat know they won't be watched closely and develop renegade behaviors for which they are seldom punished.

The TCRP also found that the when a victim files a complaint, individuals in the SAPD's Internal Affairs Department often try to protect fellow officers and "disbelieve and attack the credibility of complainants." Most telling is the fact that victims of police abuse rarely receive any follow-up on the status or outcome of their Internal Affairs complaints.

The report also states, " . . . by all appearances, a complaint filed with Internal Affairs is more likely to trigger an investigation of the complainant than of the officer complained against. It is therefore not surprising that citizens are generally hesitant to file a complaint."

Despite all of the negative situations described in the report, the TCRP acknowledges that the SAPD has shown improvement since the arrival of Chief William McManus in 2006, saying he "has made some efforts to move the department in the right direction by listening to citizens’ concerns and pushing for changes."

One of those improvements is on the Chief’s Advisory Action Board which sits in on Internal Affairs hearings. The Board added more civilian members so that it is now composed of seven officers and seven civilians, and removed the police union's ability to veto appointment of new Board members.

The TCRP makes a series of recommendations that could help improve the public's relationship with the SAPD. These include a establishing a civilian oversight board, having the District Attorney prioritize pursuing cases of police misconduct, maintaining a more fair and transparent Internal Affairs process and insisting officers report misconduct by fellow officers.

In terms of dealing with the GLBT community, the reports suggests that sensitivity training should be given not only to Police Academy cadets but also to veteran officers.

The TCRP's stated goal is to "promote racial, social, and economic justice through education and litigation. TCRP strives to foster equality, secure justice, ensure diversity, and strengthen communities."

Click here to get a copy of the report.