Proposal B in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO A confrontation ends with a citizen killed by a police officer. Outrage and protests follow. Then ask for accountability.

And then it happens again, in another city in the United States.

To many, we seem to be trapped in a cycle. This is why activists in communities across the country are calling for police reform. And that is why you have the chance to vote for or against Proposal B if you vote for the election on 1 May.

By this time, you’ve probably heard of the attempt to revoke the collective bargaining power of the San Antonio police. But there have been mixed messages about the issue leading to confusion for voters. In this episode of KSAT Explains we explain what Prop B is about, the arguments for and against it, and what it would achieve and not achieve. (Watch the full episode in the video player above.)

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Last summer, Oji Martin, a local woman, founded a group called Fix SAPS. Martin said she reached her tipping point after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and after looking at Broken Blue, the KSAT specialist on misconduct and disciplinary proceedings within the San Antonio Police Department.

With the aim of reforming the police department, the group launched two petitions to get two items on the ballot in May. The ultimate goal was to repeal two local codes that, among other things, provide protection for police officers under investigation.

“There is a lack of accountability in our police system, and that is the cause of all these problems,” Martin said when KSAT spoke to her about the petition in September.

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In the end, Fix SAPS collected just enough signatures to get Prop B to the vote – the proposed revocation of Texas Local Code Code 174. They are still working on the petition to revoke 143.

Chapter 174, explained

This is what Prop B looks like:

As is the case with many voice initiatives, the wording itself is confusing. It calls for the repeal of Chapter 174, which allows police unions to negotiate jointly, while keeping in place the rule that officers may not strike or impose an exclusion.

Collective bargaining is a process in which a trade union and their employer, in this case the city, determine wages, hours and working conditions for all the employees who represent the trade union: police officers. These are contract negotiations. And right now, that’s a big debate.

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SAPS said they decided to go to collective bargaining because they believe many problems with police liability start with the contract.

“You just follow the breadcrumbs and you realize that bad contracts lead to poor performance by some of these officers,” said EJ Pinnock, board member of Fix SAPS. ‘These contracts are drawn up by certain laws. In this case, state laws. And Prop B allows us to change all these things. ”

Debriefing?

Fix SAPS believes that yes to Prop B is a step towards more accountability. But the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association has voted a vote for Prop B as a vote for the police refund.

‘Defund the police’ has become a national rally in the wake of protests for police reform. This means that the funding of police departments has to be redistributed to other government agencies.

But Prop B will in no way directly affect the budget of SAPS.

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However, SAPOA president Danny Diaz argues that repayment would be the ultimate effect. Diaz says because removing collective bargaining would remove one bargaining tool from the union, which he said would threaten competitive benefits for officials.

Fix SAPS calls the defound label for Prop B a scare tactic.

Of the eight largest cities in Texas, only San Antonio, El Paso and Corpus Christi use collective bargaining.

The union questioned why Fix SAPS was targeting collective bargaining in the first place, instead of specific parts of the police contract with which they were negotiating.

“Why did they not go to Articles 28 and 29,” Diaz said. “That’s what our discipline is about.”

But we went to see with the city. And according to the San Antonio city attorney, Fix SAPS could not bring the contract into a city-wide vote.

So the process of negotiate that contract is in the group’s cross.

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How many officers got their jobs back due to arbitration?

For years, certain aspects of the police union’s contract have been questioned.

One important fixed point – arbitration. Under the current contract, an officer fired by the police chief can have a third-party arbitrator determine whether they should get their jobs back.

The union argues arbitration has rarely returned an official his or her job. They say it happened ten times in ten years. Fix SAPS says 70 percent of all dismissed SAPS officers get their jobs back.

This back and forth has been a major point of contention in this debate. So which stat is true?

KSAT knocked the numbers down. This is what we found:

From 2010 to the summer of 2020, there were 71 police officers’ terminations. Some of the cases are still pending. In 43 cases, the officer appealed their termination and it was decided to put the officer back to work. Ten of the officers got their jobs back through arbitration. Twenty were brought back by the police chief, which happens in some cases because it becomes too expensive for the city to maintain an officer’s firing through the arbitration process.

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That equates to 69.8 percent of the sacked officers brought back to power from 2010 to 2019.

What else is in the police contract?

It is not just arbitration that is highlighted as one of the aspects of the collective bargaining that needs to be looked at more closely.

Here are some other items that are regularly criticized in the police contract:

• The police chief can only discipline officers up to 180 days from the date of the offense.

• The police chief cannot consider misconduct older than ten years for drug and alcohol offenses, and older than five years for violent offenses during the disciplinary process.

• Under the current contract, officers accused of wrongdoing can be notified 48 hours before speaking to internal investigators.

Some of these issues are being discussed between the union and the city while they are currently negotiating. The current contract will expire in September. The union claims that they are already talking about possible changes, so why should they get rid of collective bargaining?

But chapter 174 is only the first step in Fix SAPS’s plan to reform the police department.

San Antonians adopted chapter 143, or ‘civil service’, in 1947. It is a broad law that sets out how a city handles personnel issues for firefighters and police officers. It covers things like rent, promotions and benefits. However, it does not pay the officer.

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Without collective bargaining, a contract between the city and the union is not necessary. City staff and the city manager will recommend officials’ pay and benefits, and the city council will vote or approve it.

But 143 does cover dismissal and the process used for discipline. And because it’s in place, even if Chapter 174 is repealed in May, the police will still have protection.

What does chapter 143 say about firing and discipline?

In terms of rent, dismissal and discipline – consider chapter 143 as a baseline. If a collective bargaining agreement disappears, it is set out in 143. Many of the rules are the same or similar to the rules set out in the current contract between the city and the union.

Under 143, for example, an investigating officer may render a judgment if an officer appeals the termination. Similar to arbitration.

Chapter 143 also says only the police chief can view an officer’s personnel file, not the media or the general public. The police chief cannot suspend an officer for an offense that took place more than 180 days ago. Which also appears in the current contract.

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That is why Fix SAPS wants Chapter 143 to be repealed as well. But according to organizers, lifting 174 is the first step.

But chapter 143 is a stricter target. Fix SAPS needs more than 20,000 signatures to put 174 in front of voters. To recall 143, you will need approximately 80,000 signatures collected within 180 days.

Julia Gannaway, an attorney representing cities in Texas in negotiations and public service matters, said to her knowledge that no city manages to repeal 143.

“143 is like the Hotel California,” Gannaway said. ‘You can check in at any time, but you can never leave. You can not get out of it. ”

If collective bargaining is repealed in May, the police union and the city could still negotiate a contract under the so-called ‘meet and assemble’ system.

Consider it a collective bargaining light. It can still bring both sides to the negotiating table. But it does not have to if they do not want to.

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The police union must agree to meet the city, meet about it and make a petition. Then the city council must approve it, otherwise they can let voters decide.

Fix SAPS supports meetings and meetings and points to the city of Austin as an example.

“In Austin, they actually have better pay, better benefits and they have a meeting and conference system,” James Dykman, board member of Fix SAPS, said during a Prop B debate held by KSAT, San Antonio Report and Bexar Facts were kept. “We can still attract big officers to the city as they do.”

Are crime rates skyrocketing in Texas? Would police officers in San Antonio lose competitive pay under a meeting and conference system? Would civilians supervise more if Prop B passes? Watch the video below for more information on the biggest questions surrounding the Prop B debate.

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