Backdoor Plan to Defund the San Antonio Police

Liberal San Antonio city council member Sukh Kaur from District 1 has proposed a city ordinance to allow the city to hire retired sworn officers or civilian city employees to address non-injury traffic accidents, parking concerns, and noise ordinance violations. This proposal would enable SAPD officers to focus on higher-priority calls. While this may seem a clever idea, it has negative and disastrous implications for the police officers and public safety.

The SA Police Department suffers from a critical staff shortage because of early retirement and lower recruitment rates. Thus, having civilians help the police may seem like a promising idea.

However, a closer examination shows this is another backdoor “defund the police” political move that will result in fewer trained police officers and more public safety issues. One of the main national goals of leftist radicals is to abolish local police departments and create a national police force.

For the past few years, “police reforms” have been a prominent theme among liberals and leftists who view law enforcement as a “racist evil.” They have attempted to reform, if not abolish, police departments, and replacing police officers is part of the liberal/leftist reform.

San Antonio is no different. The SA city council members have demanded SAPD reform and, in some cases, that they stay out of their neighborhoods. For example, District 2 councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez has said the police intimidate his constituents, and U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro, a liberal Democrat from District 24, has claimed police presence in a parking lot intimidated voters in his district.

This antagonistic political atmosphere has created a “hostile work environment” for police officers. They are overworked, disrespected, and persecuted by the George Soros-funded Bexar County District Attorney, Joe Gonzales.

Thus, using the excuse of a police staff shortage, reforming the police, and saving city money, liberals led by City Councilmember Kaur have proposed using “retired sworn officers or civilian city employees to address certain non-injury traffic accidents, parking concerns, and noise ordinance violations, allowing SAPD officers to focus on higher-priority calls.”

However, there is a saying among law enforcement professionals that “no calls for service are ever routine, simple, and safe.” Any call can turn dangerous and violent in a moment.

For example, on Friday, April 12, 2025, a family gathering turned violent Friday night as a man was stabbed in the chest when an argument broke out between family members.

On Friday, March 25, 2025, a man is behind bars after a drunken argument allegedly led him to draw a gun on his teen son and barricade himself with two children.

On Monday, May 27, 2024, the police were called to a birthday party that ended with three people shot after an argument broke out.

On Sunday, July 28, 2024, an illegal alien shot a police officer who was answering a call regarding a domestic disturbance.

Any situation can escalate into violence. Should unarmed civilians manage one of these calls?

Liberals do not understand the true nature of police work, while anti-police leftists want to abolish local law enforcement altogether. To justify their liberal/leftist police policies, liberal SA city leaders are claiming that crime and violence are down in the city. This proposal is a pretext not to hire more local police officers and to proceed with this half-baked plan.

SAPD’s “hot spot” plan has shown that when police are present and visible, crime and violence go down. Then why not hire more police officers and provide them with proper training and equipment?

Another goal of the leftist anti-police movement is to remove all health and pension benefits from police officers to demoralize them and encourage them to leave the profession. The police officers and the city jointly donate to their pension and retirement healthcare system. Not hiring new officers but replacing them with ad-hoc employees who do not make any contributions would disrupt and terminate the system.

Liberals refuse to acknowledge that police officers are not like other city employees. No other city employees risk their lives and limbs like police officers do. Why would anyone want to risk life and limb if the benefits are not worth it?

This proposal to replace police officers with civilians and retired officers by liberal Councilwoman Kaur is another form of “defunding” the police department. The citizens of San Antonio do not need civilian security guards; they need well-trained, fully equipped police officers.

Citizens need to speak up to oppose this proposal before it is pushed through by the liberals at San Antonio’s City Hall.

https://www.sa.gov/Directory/News-Releases/District-1-Councilmember-Advances-Public-Safety-Initiative-to-Enhance-Quality-of-Life-for-San-Antonio-Residents