Published: Mon, 11/27/23
San Antonio Express-News
By Raul Trey Lopez
The San Antonio Police Officers’ Association has launched a social media campaign against District Attorney Joe Gonzales after a string of violent officer-involved shootings.
“We will no longer stay silent,” states the first video, posted earlier this month on X, formerly Twitter. “Tune in to the DA Chronicles to uncover the truth.”
In a second video, SAPOA said Gonzales is “putting law enforcement at risk” by not keeping repeat offenders behind bars.
It focused on Jesse Garcia, 28, the man accused of wounding three police officers in August during a four-hour standoff. He was indicted by a Bexar County grand jury earlier this month.
The SAPOA video showed Garcia’s criminal history dating back to 2018. It stated that several of his cases were dismissed and he was released twice on bond, most recently in February.
Gonzales released a statement after the video was released, calling it “false and blatantly misleading.”
https://twitter.com/SAPOAssociation/status/1726632308701040792
The standoff with Garcia kicked off a public feud between Police Chief William McManus and Gonzales.
Garcia has been in and out of jail several times since 2015. He was out on two bonds and wanted on outstanding warrants for felon in possession of a firearm, evading arrest in a vehicle and burglary of a vehicle.
“Why wasn’t he in jail? Why (weren’t) his bonds increased? People want to know,” McManus wrote in a social media post.
The DA’s office held a news conference the next day, defending itself and emphasizing it is not responsible for setting bond amounts. Gonzales has since said his office has had to dismiss cases for lack of evidence from law enforcement.
Danny Diaz, president of SAPOA, said there seems to be a “revolving door.” Officers put felons in jail only to have them released.
“It’s disheartening, not only from a police officer standpoint but for this community, because these people (felons) get out, and they keep doing more crimes,” Diaz said.
Diaz said the solution to fixing the problem is to follow the system in place and not the “Joe Gonzales justice system, which is basically just letting people go.”
“They need to stand up and ask for him to do his job,” Diaz said. “Or, I said this before, he just needs to resign so that the city of San Antonio can find a DA that will do the job and do the job correctly.”Gonzales emphasized that SAPOA is aware that under Texas law, an elected district attorney “does not set bonds nor do they have the legal authority to order the release of a defendant on bond.”
He added that he is disappointed in SAPOA’s attempts to undermine his efforts to improve public safety alongside city and county leaders.
In recent months, SAPD and the DA’s office have tried to improve the communication between the two departments by implementing a new evidence system to keep criminals off the streets.
Gonzales said law enforcement, the judiciary and prosecutors are “working more closely than ever to make Bexar County even safer by building a stronger and more efficient system of justice.”
He also is meeting with McManus and other city/county leaders as part of the efforts to improve communication, Gonzales’ statement said.
“It would better serve the interests of local citizens for SAPOA to join other parties now working to improve public safety in our communities,” Gonzales said. “I know I am not alone in hoping that they do so.”