Bexar County, San Antonio Hope Tech Upgrade Will Keep Criminals Off Streets

San Antonio police and the Bexar County District Attorney's Office are upgrading their evidence systems after several officer-involved shootouts with men who have been in and out of jail for years.

Police Chief William McManus called out District Attorney Joe Gonzales in September because some of the shooters involved had cases dismissed against them. Gonzales said his office constantly has to request additional evidence from the Police Department, and if they don't get it, they have to dismiss the cases.

McManus presented a plan Tuesday to the city's Public Safety Committee to upgrade law enforcement's in-car video to Axon Enterprise, the system used for its body cameras.

At the same time, the Bexar County Commissioners Court gave the district attorney permission to negotiate with Axon Enterprise for a new evidence management system. Axon also is used by the Sheriff's Office.

Gonzales said he was looking for a system that would work with those of the 60 different law enforcement agencies in the county.

"The challenge that we find ourselves in is that evidence submission and review is much more complicated than before," Gonzales said, noting the increase of video used by police over the years.

"There are times when they're not compatible," Gonzales added.

The cost of the new system at the county is estimated at $133,000 to implement and $750,000 annually. County budget officers said the cost is included in the budget for the current fiscal year.

On the city side, the in-car video system will cost $830,000 annually, and the body-worn camera system will cost $2.4 million.

During his briefing, McManus said the current system that provides evidence to the DA's office is "somewhat problematic," but the new cloud-based interface with Axon Enterprise could give them expedient access.

Disagreements between McManus and Gonzales began after the two-week span of officer-involved shootings that saw six officers injured in late August and early September.

McManus publicly criticized the DA's office following the arrest of a suspect involved in a shooting that left multiple officers wounded. He questioned why the man hadn't been in jail after being out on two bonds while committing more crimes and having three arrest warrants.

"All I know is that we should be putting people in that jail who have violent repeat histories," McManus later said.

Gonzales went on the defense. In a meeting with the San Antonio Express-News editorial board, he went through individual cases of the shooters involved, explaining why each case was dismissed — several were from lack of evidence, he said.

"The digital technology has never worked to where we are reliably getting that evidence that police have," added Christian Henricksen, first assistant district attorney. "Our people who used to just review cases now spend about half of their time trying to get the evidence that should just come over easily."

The City Council and Commissioners Court must approve the respective contracts before implementing the new systems.

"There have been a lot of high-profile disagreements and frustrations recently," Emily Angulo, assistant criminal district attorney, told county leaders Tuesday. "One thing that all of us — all law enforcement and all prosecutors — can agree on is that we want to focus on public safety. We want our community to be safe. The real job should be fighting crime and not fighting outdated technology."

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