A Simple Poll - Do You Trust the San Antonio Police Department? (Tool: office, best)

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

With any organization there are bad apples. SAPD is no different.

[Dreadlockd]

I don't trust SAPD or any PD.

Domestic terrorist who typically go unchecked, IMO.

[huckster]

Collectively ,yes I unequivocally trust San Antonio's finest.
Yet on an individual basis not completely. Beware of bad apples. Unbelievable it was to me when one cop inadvertently killed another cop a couple years ago by running him down going 90 miles an hour en route to see about some minor infraction, a shoplifter at Wal-mart or something small like this, on the west side. This was only a single, for instance ?
An immense tragedy it is, showing very bad simple judgement by an officer
with a very deadly result. Where was the common sense that should have prevailed ? Perhaps the same judgement as a drunk driver, putting the public risk like that ? Nuts.

Originally Posted by majormadmax

I would like to get an idea of how people feel about this topic. It has been debated in numerous threads, and there are several individuals who feel strongly on both sides.

So, a simple question...in general, do you trust the San Antonio Police Department?

Thanks for your input. How each person votes will be kept anonymous.

Cheers! M2

[rd2007]

and then there was the SAPD/BCSD gun fight on the side of 410 a couple years ago. The multitude of DUI/DWI arrests of LE and FD members, questionable killings/murders by (most likely) drunk off duty cops, and it doesn't stop or even rest.
Nice to see the numbers going more towards where I thought they would and I am not saying all are bad or even close to all of them, just the ones I've dealt with and read about along with comparisons to all the other cities I've lived in and visited. The cops here are most similar to those south of the border as far as corruption and inability to be trusted...

[kidd_91]

I'm sure their are good officers out there, however as a whole SAPD needs to work a little more on their public image.
It looks bad when you have a city campaign saying get off your phones and no texting while driving and you see officers driving around talking on phones, and reading and typing into the dash laptops.
It looks bad when police officers refuse to make a report at an accident unless someone is hurt and make comments like "i don't care, take it up with your insurance." (Yes, actual quote.)
It looks bad when police cruisers routinly drive about the speed limit on highways.
It looks bad when off-duty officers get DWIs and hurt other drivers and get off with slaps on the wrists. (Although I will admit most DWIs do result in slaps on the wrists, so maybe this is more of a DA issue than police.)
It looks bad when officers have the time to sit at certain intersections giving out tickets but when a alarm goes off at a home take over an hour to show up. (happened last week to me last week, and actually who knows how long they would have taken to show up. I got out of work and made it home in about 45 minutes, no sign of police, waiting a while, called the alarm company and they said no officers had reported back. At that point I told them to just cancel the request.)

I could go on but hopefully you get the idea. It's not a issue of shady people not trusting the SAPD it's an issue of the SAPD not making an effort to show the people of SA they are concerned or care about them.

[huckster]

Is incorrect. Officers here in S.A. are extremely honest in comparison
to Police Depts.in larger cities. There is no comparison to the
corruption I heard of when living in the Detroit Metro area to here. You've truly no idea what has been uncovered by investigation within the Dept. there.
Including also, from the ex-mayors office down. Hell, the guy is now in a Fed.
prison.

Originally Posted by rd2007

and then there was the SAPD/BCSD gun fight on the side of 410 a couple years ago. The multitude of DUI/DWI arrests of LE and FD members, questionable killings/murders by (most likely) drunk off duty cops, and it doesn't stop or even rest.
Nice to see the numbers going more towards where I thought they would and I am not saying all are bad or even close to all of them, just the ones I've dealt with and read about along with comparisons to all the other cities I've lived in and visited. The cops here are most similar to those south of the border as far as corruption and inability to be trusted...

[Spock's Beard]

Originally Posted by HillCountryHotRodMan

Why am I not surprised that less people trust the SAPD?

QA: Because so many people in this city are shady and they know it.

Or could it be a correlation to "quota cops" who are always there to bust someone for not wearing a seatbelt yet take an hour to respond to a crime scene long after the suspect got away?

Maybe if the city stopped treating cops as tools for producing revenue and more like crime fighters, then maybe more criminals wouldn't get away in this city.

[rd2007]

Originally Posted by huckster

Is incorrect. Officers here in S.A. are extremely honest in comparison
to Police Depts.in larger cities. There is no comparison to the
corruption I heard of when living in the Detroit Metro area to here. You've truly no idea what has been uncovered by investigation within the Dept. there.
Including also, from the ex-mayors office down. Hell, the guy is now in a Fed.
prison.

nope, that's incorrect.. Detroit is much smaller than SA (and getting smaller by the day) and is a special city in itself that really can't be compared with any other. I'm from that area, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about there. It is a unique city with some serious corruption, but still nothing like what you see here and the corruption tends to be further up the chain. Many of the cops are basically just trying to make it to the next day alive and dealing with serious budget cuts. Absolutely nothing like San Antonio from the ground up.

BTW, this thread is about trusting SAPD, not comparing it to a dissimilar city.

[badhornet]

I trust SAPD far more than I would ever anyone with Bexar County Sheriffs Dept

[Dreadlockd]

Originally Posted by badhornet

I trust SAPD far more than I would ever anyone with Bexar County Sheriffs Dept

Since similar sentiment has been brought up on this post about Bexar County SD. What's the back story on this?