BPD UNDER SAUCEDA/DIETRICH, HOSTILE, TOXIC WORKPLACE

Special to EL Rrun-Rrun

Accountability is non-existent and only beneficial when Brownsville Police Department Chief Felix Sauceda believes it is merited.

The disciplinary write-ups have been distributed as part of investigation of the female prisoner who died while in the BPD's custody as the civil lawsuit looms ahead. 

He is hoping his strategy – divide and conquer –  will result in officers under him will turn on each other and leave him in the clear. 

The last thing he wants is for the buck to stop with him even though it was his lack of foresight and administrative skills which didn't authorize overtime to be allowed inside the city jail that resulted in a lack of manpower to monitor all the prisoners that resulted in the death of the unfortunate female prisoner.

If Saceda's strategy doesn't pan out, the rumor around the station is that Patrol Lt. Castillo will probably take the fall and that he will hold a high-ranking supervisor accountable instead. 

That Lieutenant, a Christian preacher, was recently removed from the SWAT Team and shunted to the Patrol Division for allegedly philandering at the station and now finds that since he was the shift commander at the time of the woman's death, will probably be left by Sauceda to face the music on his own. The chief knows no mercy. It's up to the officers to stick together and not turn on each other.

Why has City Manager Noel Bernal not suspended Sauceda? In any other municipality or county anywhere in this country, if a custody death happened in one of their detention centers, the chief or sheriff automatically faces suspension pending an investigation. And here we have the chief overseeing a death-in-custody investigation that happened under his watch? This is accountability and transparency? 

SWAT tryout s are coming up and once again we see this lack of adherence to these two principles of good government and management. One of his favorite underlings tried out for SWAT and failed to meet the minimum requirements, but nonetheless was allowed to become a member of the team. That officer progressed to the Criminal Investigation Unit and now the Special Investigation Division has become a source of leaks to the chief for dirt on officers.

Almost to a man, the members of the SWAT Team – who earned their place honorably – do not believe that Sauceda's snitch deserves the SWAT trident patch but do not voice their concerns for fear of retaliation. With SWAT tryout around the corner, if an officer does not make it, an obvious option is for him or her to file for discrimination based on the officer placed there who did not qualify.

Accountability, you may ask?

The Protective Order training is being taught by someone who is not certified as a law enforcement instructor and is being used as a disciplinary tool and a certain rookie officer knowing this instead chose to swallow his pride and be belittled among his peers than be disciplined by this administration. There are are plenty of certified instructors at the department to teach the course and the rookie officer should have been protected and respected as not to have his reputation disparaged. Did we say morale was a bit low because of this?

Some brown nosers who fought to overthrow the previous administration have received their 30 coins of silver in the form of promotions tom higher positions for throwing other officers under the bus. Of two officers, one is involved with public information and keeps Sauceda informed on the actions of the members of the Texas Municipal Police Association and the other – in intelligence – is allowed to work for Dell while also providing his boss with gossip on other officers.

The list of informants Sauceda has within the department covers most divisions. One has access to the surveillance cameras and can –and does – listen in on conversations of patrol officers inside their units. 

Not even the Intelligence Division has the access this officer has.
If decency, a commitment to the law to protect his community and protect the reputation of the department by not engaging in domestic disturbances, alcoholic-fuel rages, and other unseeming behavior are the rule, a police officer like this has no place in the department. Any defense attorney will have his clients' charges thrown out of court by citing his reputation.

These sycophants tell Sauceda and Commander William Dietrich what they want to hear. It's about par for the course since Sauceda, before he was chief, was doing the same. If Bernal wants to cultivate a "culture" in the city and the department, it would benefit to learn that it was these two who fabricated evil gossip to put down others and elevate themselves. 

Sauceda now speaks negatively of former chiefs Oralndo Rodriguez and Carlos Garcia and about the "unethical days" both were chiefs and promised them they would not happen again. But his acts show that there is no honor or integrity in his leadership.

The senior officers in the department are lucky they will retire soon. Sauceda is already said to be seeking an exit strategy. Now, as he and Bernal seek to strip the retirement benefits of those who are currently rookies, it would not surprise local residents to see the rookies look for a way out and  maybe even march on city hall to join the seniors.