The City of San Antonio’s proposed 2023 budget would add more than $28 million to the San Antonio Police Department, a nearly 6% increase from this year, and 78 police officer positions.
City Council members were generally receptive to the plan presented to them by San Antonio Police Chief William McManus on Tuesday, but some of the more politically progressive members were skeptical that adding more police officers will reduce or prevent crime, which has increased 12.3% since last year, according to the department.
Twenty-eight of the new uniformed positions would staff the new police substation on North St. Mary’s Street when it opens and the other 50 would be dedicated to addressing violent crime. The latter group is dependent on whether the city receives a $3.6 million federal grant it applied for earlier this year. If it doesn’t get the grant, McManus said the city could still fund 38 positions with the city’s matching funds that were part of the grant application.
The city has commissioned UTSA to study violent crime prevention, and those 50 officers would be tasked with carrying out the recommendations, which are expected to be drafted this fall.
“I’m having a hard time understanding the logic. … We don’t know what’s going to be recommended,” said Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5), yet the city is already setting aside resources.
Castillo suggested that the money could instead be used to bolster SAPD’s main community policing program or the city’s multidisciplinary response teams — called SA Core — that have a police officer, paramedic and a mental health clinician respond to low-risk mental health calls.
That pilot program is still in its first year. The proposed budget sets aside $2 million to analyze and possibly expand the team beyond the central substation.
“My hope is that UTSA is exploring alternative models [like this] that don’t require a badge and a gun,” Castillo said.
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) joined in her concern.
“Today I’m not talking about any reductions,” McKee-Rodriguez said. “I just want to make sure that the money that you do have — that you are spending — is being used effectively. When we’re talking about $567 million, my constituents and I expect results.”
Police aren’t the only answer to crime prevention, Councilman Mario Bravo (D1) said. “I don’t think it’s fair to ask police officers to be the only tool that we have.”
The city is poised to launch yet another study with UTSA that will analyze how programs and services in and outside of the police department — workforce development, education, libraries, parks, code enforcement, lighting — impact crime, said City Manager Erik Walsh.
“Do they enhance the community safety? And we think that [they probably do], it’s not been quantified before,” Walsh said, adding that the contract for that work is nearing completion.
While the budget includes funding for 2,581 uniformed positions, the city anticipates it will have 63 vacancies next year.
Councilman Clayton Perry (D10), who has long advocated increasing the number of police, said the city should eliminate vacancies by adding a fifth cadet class next year.
“If you go beyond four classes … it’s very difficult for the academy to handle that many classes,” McManus said.
The $567 million police budget — the largest slice of the $3.4 billion fiscal year budget — also includes $6.2 million for a 3.5% wage increase as negotiated in the city’s contract with the police union, eight non-uniformed positions and $1.7 million to replace aging video recording systems inside patrol vehicles.
The San Antonio Fire Department will receive a 4.6% increase to its budget over this year, adding 25 positions, a platform truck and a medical responder team that Fire Chief Charles Hood hopes will shave seconds off of increasing response times.
In 2017, the average response time for fire and emergency medical services was 7 minutes and 48 seconds. This year, it’s projected to be 8 minutes and 32 seconds.
“You’ve heard me over the years, anytime we add a piece of equipment in the city, it’s going to benefit everyone,” Hood said.
Council is slated to vote on the budget next month.
