Police Chief McManus' attacks on DA Joe Gonzales comes days before council will vote on SAPD's proposed $621.1 million budget.
Five SAPD officers have been shot in the line of duty since Aug. 24, leading to tensions between Police Chief William McManus and Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales.
However, McManus' grievances with the DA's office are misguided, according to Gerald S. Reamey, a retired San Antonio St. Mary's Law School professor who's also served in law enforcement. Instead of targeting Gonzales, Reamy said, McManus should be mad at the Texas legal system's rules for setting bail.
"Another SAPD officer was shot and hospitalized a few hours ago by a repeat violent offender who should be in jail," McManus wrote Sept. 5 on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following the latest shooting. Typically, Texas judges only deny bail in capital murder cases where the death penalty is on the table. It's difficult to jail someone, even a repeat violent offender, in perpetuity because a suspect is innocent until proven guilty, Reamey said.
McManus' tough-on-crime rhetoric also comes days ahead of a critical city council vote. Council is scheduled to decide this Thursday whether to approve SAPD's $621.1 million budget — an 8.5% increase from the previous fiscal year and the largest budget in the department's history.
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