SAN ANTONIO — Danny Diaz says he was hurt when former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro endorsed a measure called Proposition B that would shift some power from the San Antonio police union and give it to the city.
Diaz is currently the president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association.
“It’s not about accountability, it's about defunding, and if it was such a problem, he was mayor here for quite a while and he did vote several of our contracts,” Diaz says.
Voters in San Antonio will get to say yes or no to Prop B in May. If they say yes, the San Antonio police union won’t get to collectively bargain. Fix SAPD co-founder Ej Pinnock, who backs Prop B, says it’s not about defunding the police.
“A lot of the things you hear about this defunding, it’s not possible. Currently, Prop B has no ability, zero ability, to defund the police,” Pinnock says. “The only folks who can defund the police right now, and even if Prop B passes in the future, would be your city council folks."
Diaz fears that if Prop B passes, the more than 600 officers he says are eligible to retire might just do it now.
“If they don’t have these protections in place, and what I mean by the that, your pay and your benefits, the right to bargain with the city for equipment that we need to protect the citizens, they are going to find a job elsewhere,” Diaz says.
Pinnock says he’s had conversations with law enforcement at these polling sites and believes misinformation is being spread to them.
“They are being told that this is going to devastate their pension. I have to explain it them, it’s like, ‘Sir, under Prop B you are still going to get the same benefits, great health care, great retirement benefits that you currently enjoy,’” Pinnock says.
At the polls, Prop B is the issue most San Antonio voters are talking about. The item on the ballot has stirred debate about police accountability and heightened the emotions of voters on both sides.
“They just look at the narrative, right, and what’s been told to them and what is being preached and chanted whatever you want to call it,” Diaz says.
Pinnock says it’s all about accountability.
“You can go to Austin, you can go Dallas, you can go to Houston - when a officer does something improper, an officer is more than likely to be held accountable than in San Antonio,” Pinnock says.
It's a debate that’s now in the hands of voters. Election Day is May 1.
