SAN ANTONIO – On Saturday night time, the San Antonio Police Department answered to no less than 4 shootings throughout San Antonio.
Police Chief William McManus answered to a type of at the South Side, the place officials shot and killed a 46-year-old suspect.
“He was armed with a knife,” McManus mentioned. “Witnesses said there was a confrontation and officers had to use deadly force.”
These shootings are available in a month already marked with 5 SAPD officials shot in a span of 2 weeks. With the passing of City Council’s $3.7 billion spending plan for Fiscal Year 2024 this previous week, extra team of workers is budgeted for SAPD.
The budget permits for SAPD so as to add 105 law enforcement officials, marking this the one greatest increase to the dep. in additional than two decades. But that’s no longer the one merchandise within the budget involving SAPD.
During budget talks this previous summer season, council participants strongly liked increasing the town’s mental health reaction. Now, within the budget for the impending yr, they’re including extra investment to lend a hand accomplish that across the clock.
“We need to increase the number of officers who can help,” Karen Falks, the assistant leader of police at SAPD, mentioned in regards to the citywide mental health reaction.
The budget permits for the San Antonio Community Outreach and Resiliency Effort, or SA CORE, to paintings 24/7. They’re a workforce made up of a educated police officer, an SAFD paramedic and an authorized mental health clinician to answer mental health crises.
Right now, the workforce works two shifts, masking 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
“Right now, we know when the peak times are and we want to make sure we have people here for those peak times,” Falks mentioned. “We’re a very large city and unfortunately, we see a lot of mental health issues. And so we could use more, more officers in the Mental Health Unit.”
Falks mentioned the dep. is having a look to make bigger its Mental Health Unit, but within the interim, the drive is operating to coach all of its officials on mental health reaction. This will take 3 years to finish.
“We need more officers in the mental health unit,” Falks mentioned. “We will eventually get there.”
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