Commissioners also ratified a collective bargaining agreement that addresses pay and discipline of deputies.
Salazar vowed to implement a policy requiring body camera footage be released within 10 days of an officer-involved shooting and other critical incidents. In exchange, commissioners agreed to a two-year contract extension that includes the purchase of Tasers and body camera editing technology.
Salazar said he’d try to have the video-release policy in place by early April.
“I am committed to that,” Salazar told commissioners.
The approval followed at least two months of back-and-forth between the sheriff and commissioners. The Commissioners Court approved a policy in December that encourages releasing video involving fatal officer-involved shootings, use-of-force cases that result in a death or serious injury and deaths of individuals while in the custody of law enforcement or jail personnel within 10 days.
The county is in the fourth year of a five-year, $6.4 million contract with Axon Enterprise Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona, which provides 619 body cameras — 550 to the sheriff’s office and 69 to the constable’s offices.
Axon also provides 720 Tasers under the contract. But nearly 80 percent of them are near the end of their life span and at risk of malfunctioning. Commissioners approved an extension of the contract with Axon through 2025 for new Tasers and automatic body camera video editing capability to meet legal requirements for redaction.
County officials said the changes would add about $3 million to the overall cost of the contract. But Commissioner Tommy Calvert objected to the higher costs and felt the technology upgrades were part of the initial services offered when the contract was approved in 2019.
A few residents also spoke against the contract change, saying taxpayer funds could better be spent on mental health treatment and community social services.
The contract extension was approved in a 4-1 vote with Calvert opposed.
The issue of releasing body camera video has been spotlighted in the wake of the Aug. 25, 2020, death of Damian Daniels, who was fatally shot by a deputy while suffering from a mental health episode. The sheriff’s office publicly released the video of Daniels’ death in late December.
Collective bargaining
The new collective bargaining agreement between the county and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County provides a cumulative 15 percent pay increase to deputies during their first four years of service. It also establishes a Citizens Advisory Board to provide an administrative review of complaints against deputies. Commissioners will appoint the 10-member board, with members serving two-year terms.
The agreement also eliminates arbitration as a process for appealing disciplinary decisions regarding deputies, replacing it with a seven-member Civil Service Commission. One member will be appointed by the sheriff, one by the district attorney, one appointed by the county judge and one by each county commissioner.
Under the new system, local residents will vote on whether to overrule discipline handed down by the sheriff rather than an arbitrator. The county and deputies’ union had been meeting since June 2020 to negotiate the agreement. It runs through Sept. 30, 2025.
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