Jesse Salame, a San Antonio native who began his career with the San Antonio Police Department nearly three decades ago, has been selected as its next chief after a nationwide search.
City Manager Erik Walsh announced Salame’s appointment Wednesday, nearly two months after the 27-year SAPD veteran took over as acting chief following the retirement of longtime Police Chief William McManus.
Salame’s appointment still requires confirmation from the San Antonio City Council, which is scheduled to vote on Sept. 10.
“Jesse emerged as the right person, in my opinion, to lead the San Antonio Police Department into the future,” Walsh said. “I have the utmost confidence in his leadership, his experience and his commitment to the people of San Antonio and the department.”
For Salame, the selection brought his career full circle.
A few weeks ago, he walked into the convention center for his interview for the job — the same place where, nearly 28 years earlier, he stood in line with roughly 2,000 people to take an entrance exam to become a San Antonio police officer.
“I felt like I walked 1,000 miles to get back to that same spot, but this time with the opportunity to lead this department,” Salame said. “I don’t take that opportunity lightly.”
Salame takes over a department shaped by McManus’ nearly 20 years at the helm, and said Wednesday he does not intend to start from scratch. He described McManus as a friend and mentor but said his own leadership will draw from lessons learned from supervisors and experiences throughout his career.
“We’ve got a really strong foundation. We don’t need to rebuild a lot of things,” Salame said. “We just want to get better at the things that we do and implement new things to keep us ahead of the game.”
Salame said his vision for doing that centers on three priorities: safety, SAPD employees and community trust.
On safety, Salame said the department will continue using data, investigations and partnerships to build on recent reductions in violent crime, while concentrating resources on the people and places driving violence and supporting prevention efforts that address its root causes.
But Salame said he views public safety as extending beyond crime statistics, arguing that it is also tied to San Antonio’s broader growth and economy.
“Public safety and economic development go hand in hand,” Salame said. “A safe community is one where people want to live, work, visit and invest.”
Salame also said officers can and will engage in aggressive policing strategies as long as they operate within constitutional and legal boundaries.
“That’s my vision for the department: We’re going to follow the law, but we’re going to keep people safe,” he said.
His second priority will be serving the people in the department, particularly through retaining officers and supporting their well-being. Salame identified keeping pace with San Antonio’s growth as one of the biggest challenges facing the department and said that while SAPD has a strong recruiting operation, getting officers through the door is only part of the equation.
“We ask officers and non-sworn employees to do incredibly difficult work,” Salame said. “We send our officers into situations that most people spend their lives trying to avoid. We must take care of the people who take care of San Antonio.”
That includes giving officers greater flexibility in their careers, investing in wellness and mentorship and ensuring employees feel supported. At the same time, Salame said supporting officers does not mean abandoning expectations for their conduct.
“I believe you can take care of your people and hold them accountable,” Salame said. “Those things aren’t in conflict and at the end of the day, healthy, supported officers are going to be better equipped to serve this community.”
Salame said the most important of his three priorities is community trust, and gaining and maintaining that trust will require SAPD to engage not only with residents who support the department but also those who distrust or disagree with it.
“That is the foundation of everything we do,” he said. “We can have the best policies, the best training, the best technology, but if the community doesn’t trust us, none of that matters.”
Salame said that approach means officers need to meet residents where they are and recognize that public safety can mean different things in different neighborhoods — from more officers and patrol cars to better lighting or trimmed trees and shrubs.
“My goal is not to get everybody to like or love SAPD,” Salame said. “My goal is to try to understand them and have them understand us.”
Salame acknowledged that while these priorities sound simple, they aren’t easy.
“They’re incredibly important to this department and to this city,” he said. “And if we get these things right, I believe we can make a great department an even better department where our people are proud to serve, and the community has confidence in us.”
Walsh selected Salame from more than 30 applicants after an interview process that included panels of community members, city stakeholders and 12 randomly selected civilian and uniformed SAPD employees.
Walsh said outside candidates were seriously considered but that the national search ultimately reinforced his decision to promote from within. He said departments often look outside when they need a major overhaul or have lost the trust of employees or the community.
Salame is now the second internal hire to lead a large public safety department in San Antonio, following the appointment of San Antonio Fire Chief Valerie Frausto in 2024. Walsh said promoting leaders from within can give them a stronger relationship with department employees.
“That gives them a better grounding with the employee groups, two of the largest departments, and two of our core responsibilities,” he said. “And I think with the right approach, that Jesse will do a great job, just like Chief Frausto has.”
Salame joined SAPD in June 1999 and spent 15 years in field and investigative assignments before moving into department leadership. He became deputy chief and chief of staff in 2022, overseeing internal affairs, the training academy, the public information office and open records.
He was promoted in 2024 to assistant chief overseeing the Operations Support Bureau, which includes homicide, the special victims unit, covert operations, the Fusion Center and the mental health unit. He became acting chief on July 11.
If confirmed by City Council next week, Salame will become San Antonio’s first new permanent police chief in nearly 20 years.
