AT THE BPD COP SHOP: GOING TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Has the Brownsville Police Department become a tinder box ready to explode due to what many officers consider mismanagement of personnel that has created a situation where mandatory overtime is being used as a technique to address the administration's short comings?

The floundering of the top administrators – namely Chief Felix Sauceda and Commander William Dietrich – has resulted in the de facto policy of using overtime to cover up their deficiencies. As a result, many say that officers are exhausted, morale has suffered to the point where they have grown frustrated to the point that they are frustrated and have lost respect for the chief and work for him only grudgingly.

On August 27, for example, seven officers called in sick in the 3 p.m. shift alone and the result has been that Sauced has allowed that overtime be imposed on every shift due to the mismanagement of personnel. There have been "special assignments" apparently based on personal favoritism and assignment of officers to "impact teams" that have proven ineffective that has sen morale plummet due to a disruption due to ineffective manpower policies, or as they call it "staffing" in the shift roster.

Dietrich, for example, has ordered his supervisors to allow mandatory workout sessions on duty and officers are instructed to generate calls for service (patrol bys) in order to create more data/numbers to justify productivity.  

Sick leave has skyrocketed and Sauceda has been heard to describe it as abuse with Dietrich generating emails threatening to put officers on a"unique" eight-hour shift in the evenings and either Monday/Tuesday or Wednesday/Thursday off. 

This, according to some local attorneys, is based on a personal interpretation and smacks of disciplinary actions and retaliation. Already, there is growing rebellion – especially among senior ones – who have considered the filing of grievances or even lawsuits if they are forced to serve on these so-called is "unique" shifts. 

The younger officers have been turning to sick leave as a way to avoid these forced measures and there appears to be a growing number of them waiting to apply for federal positions in October when the federal government starts its mass employment cycle at the end of the year.

Twelve to 15 officers are scheduled to retire at the end of this year and are apprehensive as City Manager Noel Bernal continues to push for contract negotiations that call for greatly reduced benefits like the elimination of medical insurance for retirees.

So where is the accountability often voiced by Bernal and our city leaders? Clearly, it is a misuse of funds for Sauceda to impose special assignments, impact teams and mandatory workouts that result in mandatory overtime when there is no need and blaming it on the abuse of sick leave by officers. Has everyone forgotten that we are in a pandemic? Does social distancing and  the perseverance of essential workers mean anything to Sauced and his cadre?

Members of the Texas Municipal Police Association have already started filing grievances for the mandatory overtime as a result of the mandatory overtime they say is a violation of the Federal Labor Standards Act. Sauceda has placed officers of the local Brownsville Police Officers Association (BPOA) in cushy positions and will likely not rock the boat to keep them. But as contract negotiations approach, retirees will flood union meetings to protect the benefits they have earned from their years of honorable service.

And there is widespread talk that Sauceda is looking for a way out by applying for state positions, partly due to the case of the female prisoner who died in police custody. Will Sauced throw Chief James Paschal under the bus since he oversees jail division? Or will it be the sergeant of the jail division or even the patrol lieutenant or patrol sergeant on duty when it happened? Or perhaps even the patrol officer who conducted the arrest? Or how about the understaffed detention officers. One thing is for sure, Sauceda will not allow the buck to stop with him.

Does he forget that it is him who will not authorize overtime for them and that only two officers are assigned to the jail for the afternoon and graveyard shifts? The lawsuit looms as a credible blotch on his resume and it may depend on how aggressive the opposing attorney is to determine how many zeroes are placed in an eventual settlement form the victim's family.

Those who have helped him navigate the shoals of city politics and worming his way to the top administrative position have been badly repaid by the chief, including retired Lt. Maldonado who facilitated Sauceda attending college classes when he was a motorcycle officer by moving him to patrol even though the senior officer was getting ready to retire. 

The same happened to well-known Lt. Martinez, who basically hand-led the chief to graduate and attain his Master's degree. Martinez was Investigative Services sergeant at the time and was also shunted to patrol to remove him as a threat since both possessed the same credentials. That kind of treatment led one commander –  Serrata – to abruptly retire and a limited number of officers are willing to join his executive team.

If Sauceda leaves the department, Dietrich will not be capable of leading it, opening the way for Bernal to continue bringing in his pals from the outside who will do his bidding and continue to erode the morale and retirement benefits the hand-working police officers have earned in their service to the city. Will the city commission step to the plate and straighten out the mess at the BPD? 

(More reports to follow.)