San Antonio is exploring whether or not retired cops, civilian crash investigators or expanded on-line reporting may deal with low-priority calls similar to minor site visitors incidents — a transfer metropolis leaders say may release patrol officers for higher-priority emergencies.
The thought, first proposed in a February council consideration request from District 1 Councilmember Sukh Kaur, obtained its first detailed public briefing final week. Kate Kinnison, town’s chief innovation officer, outlined a number of approaches utilized by police departments for dealing with low precedence calls throughout the state and nation.
Kinnison introduced two examples of alternative-response fashions from Denver and New Orleans, the place civilians have both been employed as reporting technicians or contracted via non-public distributors. In Denver, 15 civilian technicians dealt with greater than 15,000 hours of its nonemergency name load final yr. Contracted crash brokers in New Orleans coated roughly 25,000 hours of low severity crash work in 2023.
One possibility underneath evaluation would mirror these fashions by hiring civilian technicians — however council members additionally emphasised a second, extra particular strategy: bringing retired SAPD officers again into the sector to deal with minor, non-injury calls.
Kaur mentioned each she and the San Antonio Police Officers Affiliation view retirees as the popular start line.
“Having talked to among the police of us, we do perceive that the precedence is attempting to see if we will get our retired officers again within the subject someway,” she mentioned. “Ensuring we’re exploring that as our first precedence — to offer of us that also want their badge held or will be on the market and are skilled in case one thing does get elevated — can be most well-liked, based mostly on the suggestions I’ve obtained.”
One other different would shift San Antonio away from its present apply of sending officers to each site visitors accident, following related approaches in Houston and Dallas.
In Dallas, dispatchers refer callers concerned in crashes with no reported accidents to file their stories on-line when automobiles are drivable and no crime is suspected. Since 2023, Dallas has required on-line reporting for minor collisions and a number of other classes of low-level offenses similar to shoplifting and harassment.
Houston’s coverage equally directs drivers to maneuver drivable vehicles to a secure location, trade data and file their crash stories at a police station inside 24 hours until accidents or felony exercise are concerned.
Whereas San Antonio already gives on-line reporting for a number of low-level crimes — receiving 8,274 on-line stories final yr — town nonetheless dispatches officers to all site visitors accidents. A shift towards a Houston- or Dallas-style mannequin would redirect officer response away from the roughly 98,450 minor, non-injury calls SAPD handles yearly, about 5% of the division’s yearly common of 1.8 million dispatched calls.
Councilmember Kaur cautioned that merely directing callers on-line may make residents really feel their issues will not be being addressed. She floated a digital response strategy much like EMS’s telehealth system, which permits paramedics to seek the advice of with some 911 callers over video.
“Generally of us simply need to see an officer, even when it’s a minor site visitors accident,” she mentioned. “With EMS and the best way they do their Zoom system, if there could possibly be a approach to incorporate a few of that know-how — the place it’s nonetheless an officer responding they usually can nonetheless see them, and the officer can say, I acknowledge you, I acknowledge that this has occurred, and listed here are the subsequent steps — I feel that might be nice.”
Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D-2) mentioned shifting minor calls to civilians or retirees may assist San Antonio transfer nearer to its longstanding purpose of accelerating officers’ proactive patrol time.
Throughout this yr’s finances cycle, the council debated increasing police hiring to satisfy a goal of including 360 patrol officers by 2029, however proposed amendments to fund further positions failed on a 4–7 vote.
“Within the context of the Metropolis Council proper now, the purpose is to rent as many patrol officers as we presumably can. Officers can’t be patrolling in the event that they’re busy dealing with all of those low degree calls. They can not reply to the violent crime in the event that they’re doing this. They’ll’t be proactive in the event that they’re responding to those issues,” McKee-Rodriguez mentioned.
Metropolis employees plan to return to the Public Security Committee in January or February with a deeper authorized evaluation, price modeling and potential pilot choices.
These will embody analyses of whether or not retired officers or civilian technicians could possibly be employed underneath SAPD’s collective bargaining settlement, how on-line reporting could possibly be expanded and whether or not a digital response mannequin is possible.
