Another Downtown Shooting in San Antonio
On Tuesday, March 11, there was another shooting in downtown San Antonio in front of the Marriott Hotel on Commerce. This shooting was another of several violent incidents that have occurred in San Antonio’s tourist area.
However, Centro San Antonio CEO and president Trish DeBerry stated on December 11, 2024, that three unarmed former police officers were adequate for downtown security. “We don’t want to turn downtown into a police state,” DeBerry said. “We want it to remain friendly. We just felt like right now there is not that need.”
District 2 city council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who rode the Black Lives Matter wave to his council seat, has also expressed anti-police views. He tweeted last year that having more police during Fiesta Week would not make downtown safer. “My thing is… There is a police officer on every corner during Fiesta. It’s damn near a micro ‘police state.’ Are we at the point where we can recognize that police presence is not deterring violence in the way people believe it does?” he tweeted. McKee-Rodriguez has made it clear he wants to defund the police.
Unfortunately, while some people want to de-escalate (or abolish) the police response to crime, the criminals do not de-escalate. On the contrary, since the anti-police movement started five years ago, crime has gotten worse across the country. The best and only way to control crime is to punish criminals. The worse the crime, the harsher the punishment.
Bexar County is “victimized” by a George Soros-funded District Attorney, Joe Gonzales, who is more interested in prosecuting police and releasing repeat offenders. Also, the City of San Antonio is controlled by liberal, anti-police city officials (like McKee-Rodriguez) who will not allow the police to be proactive in fighting crime.
If San Antonio business and community leaders want to address the rampant crime in the city, they must have a District Attorney who will prosecute criminals to the fullest and stop releasing repeat offenders. They must hire more police officers and let them be proactive in fighting crime. They must stop believing that if police de-escalate their interactions with criminals, criminals will not be violent.
The liberal approach to domestic crime and international dictators has not worked for the past four years. It is time to get tough on crime and protect citizens.