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FINAL
PUBLIC SAFETY ACTION PLAN
Bexar County – City of San Antonio

January 5, 2024
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1 Overview
Bexar County and the City of San Antonio are partnering to improve public safety and target continued threats in the community posed
by repeat violent offenders. City and County leadership held discussions and convened a working committee to outline challenges and
develop collaborative solutions. The following goals, desired outcomes, and recommended actions resulted from this work.

1.1 Goal
To reduce the number of violent repeat offenders creating safety concerns for law enforcement and the community.

1.2 Desired Outcomes

A. Greater coordination between all stakeholders in the justice system.
B. Improved working relationship between the City and the County to effectively address mutual public safety goals.
C. Enhanced and streamlined systems and communication between law enforcement agencies.
D. Develop joint safety action plan and expand to suburban cities.

2 Recommended Actions
Recommended actions are organized under justice system process categories. Collaborative Bexar County and City of San Antonio
actions are noted in yellow.

Warrants, arrest, booking, and magistration

Action Responsible
Long-term (2 years +) BC/COSA
1. Streamline arrestee intake process. Review magistration process with the goal of streamlining and
achieving efficiencies. Include review of law enforcement, the judiciary, and prosecutor processes. Look at
leveraging remote magistration system tools.

Short-term (3 – 6 months) BCSO, SAPD,

2. Share information to assist in targeting top violent offenders. Collaboration between the BCSO STOP BCDA, Pre-Trial,
and SAPD to share intelligence that will assist in prioritizing and apprehending violent criminals. Probation, Parole

Sheriff Top Offenders Program (STOP)

a) Unit will target, monitor and apprehend violent offenders based upon the well accepted premise that a
large percentage of crime is committed by a small percentage of repeat offenders, relative to the size of
Bexar County's overall population.

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Warrants, arrest, booking, and magistration
Action Responsible
b) Combination of uniformed and plainclothes positions with the appropriate type and number of vehicles.
The plainclothes portion of the unit would provide surveillance assets to gather intelligence on the
whereabouts of offenders. The uniformed portion would use a combination of techniques to safely serve
the arrest warrants on violent offenders up to and including the use of BCSO SWAT.
c) Fugitive Apprehension Unit (FAU) serves arrest warrants on felony offenders and warrants generated by
the Criminal Investigation Division Investigators for those who "walk" warrants on violent criminal
offenses and family violence offenses.
d) Collaboration between STOP and SAPD Covert Unit to create a list and seek out the top violent
fugitives in Bexar County.

Ongoing BCSO clerical staff

3. Focus on warrants for violent offenders. Clean up at large post indictment warrants (those who may
have died or gone out of the country) to facilitate prioritization.
Long-term (2 years +) BCIT
4. Implement Tyler Odyssey to streamline booking processes. The paper driven process currently utilized
to book arrestees creates ongoing issues such as physical documents being lost.

Short-term (3-6 months) BC Constables;

5. Improve civil warrants process for protective orders. Constables will enhance civil warrants process by Family Justice
developing a standard operating procedure to enhance communication with clerks and streamline Center/DA
execution of civil warrants.

Case intake and information sharing between law enforcement and criminal justice systems.
Action Responsible
Short-term (complete) Commissioners
6. Incentivize prosecutors to increase work on intake cases. Staffing shortages have affected the intake Court/BCDA
process. The Public Safety Performance Bonus will incentivize prosecutors to assist and fill in gaps. This
program will ensure high-risk cases are processed as quickly as possible.

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Case intake and information sharing between law enforcement and criminal justice systems.
Action Responsible
Short-term (3 months) LE, BCDA, SAPD,
7. Arresting officer will improve information-sharing with the District Attorney’s office and Magistrate arresting officer and
to ensure complete information is received for a case. intake attorney
a) Enhanced police report writing
b) Develop communication tool to convey relevant information to include high profile arrests
c) In exceptional circumstances as determined by SAPD and the DA, an SAPD Officer can be present to
brief the magistrate.

(Long term - up to 12 months) Commissioners

8. Improve case management and evidence intake systems. Evidence.com technology is compatible with Court/BCDA
existing SAPD and BCSO case management and evidence intake systems.
City Council
Short-term (30 days) SAPD/BCDA
9. Ensure successful transfer of evidence to new system. Establish IT workgroup to ensure successful
transfer of evidence using the new Axon technology system.

Short-term (complete) Commissioners

10. Increase processing of digital evidence. New paralegals assigned to assist in processing digital Court/BCDA
evidence.
Short-term (complete) BCDA
11. Address intake backlog. Transfer prosecutors from trial courts to intake.
Short-term (complete) SAPD and BCDA
12. Resolve case concerns. SAPD Deputy Chief Salame will be the point of contact to discuss and address
case concerns with individual cases in consultation with DA.
Short-term (90 days) BCDA, Courts
13. Improve communication between the judiciary and the assigned DAs. The goal of communication is to
improve the quality of case outcomes. A quarterly meeting was discussed as a way to improve
communication.

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Bail, Bonds
Action Responsible
Short-term (90 days) District Judge Ron
14. Denial of bail to certain violent offenders. Collaboratively formulate a strategy to promptly identify certain Rangel, SAPD
violent arrestees immediately following arrest for consideration of denial of bail. Chief William
McManus, and
District Attorney
Joe Gonzales
Long-term (1 years +) County Clerk,
15. Reduce data errors in the Public Safety Report System 1, which must be reviewed by a judge prior to District Clerk
assessing bail. The Office of Court Administration will implement enhancements through API to help clerks
reduce data errors in the PSRS.

Short-Term (60 days) BCDA

16. Provide staff training on requirements and procedures for remand, which can prevent violent
offenders from obtaining bond. Utilize Section 11-B of Texas Constitution which allows for remanding an
individual who violates condition of bond established for safety of community and/or victim.

Short-Term (90 days) Pre-Trial and

17. Increase focus on high profile individuals upon their release to supervision. Enhance the Southwest BCOCJ, BCSO,
Texas Fusion Center2 to share information on violent offenders following release to supervision. This will SAPD, Parole,
facilitate quick action and collaboration between agencies. Probation

1 In April 2022, the Texas Office of Court Administration launched the Public Safety Report System (PSRS), a statewide database. This system must be reviewed
by a judge prior to assessing bail. PSRS aids magistrates in determining bond amounts based on an offender's criminal history. The PSRS initiative is a result of
the SB 6 jail reform bill, now a part of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which curtails magistrates' discretion in granting personal recognizance (PR) bonds to
violent offenders and restricts certain offenders from being released on bail. Bexar County magistrates have fully embraced the requirement imposed on all
magistrates setting bail.
2 Fusion Centers are state-owned and operated centers that serve as focal points in states and major urban areas for the receipt, analysis, gathering and sharing

of threat-related information between State, Local, Tribal and Territorial (SLTT), federal and private sector partners. Source: https://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers
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Adult Detention Center (ADC)
Action Responsible
Long-term (6 months to 1+ year) BCDA, UHS,
18. Continue to focus on competency cases to reduce delays and allow space for violent repeat CHCS, Courts
offenders at the ADC.
a) The courts will implement a thorough review process for requests for competency evaluations to assess
whether threshold requirements have been met.
b) The courts will disseminate best practices to clinicians (contracted by the County) who conduct
competency evaluations of individuals accused of a crime. This can reduce delays.
c) Incentivize clinicians to conduct evaluations at the Adult Detention Center to reduce delays.
d) Center for Healthcare Services in-jail restoration process (short-term/ongoing)
e) Health and Human Services Commission to add additional competency restoration beds (6-8 months)
f) Manage competency restoration list for appropriate navigation to restoration treatment.
Short-Term (30 days) BCSO, BC JIAA,
19. Improve quality of processing of arrested persons and alleviate backlogs. Review arrestee transport SAPD, COSA
process between Frank Wing Municipal Court Building and Bexar County Adult Detention Center. Reduce
transport group size to 10 per hour.

Criminal Justice / Judiciary

Action Responsible
Long-term (1 years +) BCDA
20. Decrease caseloads backlog. Recruit and retain experienced prosecutors to decrease caseloads.

Ongoing BCDA, LE
21. Continued focus on indicting felony jail cases to prevent the release of felony offenders for lack of an
indictment. 3

3 Temporarily reassigned prosecutors from the trial division focusing on reviewing files for indictment has resulted in a notable increase in the number of
indictments filed. This shift in resources will eventually lead to staffing challenges for trials at the court level potentially delaying proceedings.
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Criminal Justice / Judiciary
Action Responsible
Short-term (3-6 months) Commissioners
22. Review the potential of impact courts to address felony cases more quickly. Designate impact courts Court, District
as pretrial courts. Courts
• Two felony prosecutor positions currently exist for pre-indictment.
• One felony prosecutor, clerk, bailiff, court reporter needed.

Long-term (1 years +) BC-OCJ

23. Implement initiatives that reduce recidivism. Funding for the Felony Mental Health Pre-Trial Diversion
Court needs to be dedicated. The court is currently at risk of losing all funding and support.

Ongoing Pretrial /DA

24. Continue programs that ensure detention space is used efficiently and needs of individual are
appropriately addressed. Continue Jail Diversion and Pre-Trial Diversion programs.

Short-term (complete) BCDA

25. Improve efficiency and quality at intake to prioritize certain offenses. Assign intake prosecutors by
offense type rather than by court.

Ongoing Courts / BCDA

26. Prioritize jail cases and cases that have been pending for over a year. Courts need to maintain the
commitment to prioritizing these cases.

Short-term (90 days) BC Pre-Trial,

27. Address the issue of violent offenders cutting off ankle monitors and posing a threat in the BCSCO
community. Sentinel provides monitors and is a 24/7 operation with a call center that notifies Pre-Trial
services when the ankle strap is cut off. Pretrial operates 24/7 at JIAA and an officer and supervisor are on
call to handle any GPS alerts received. Pre-Trial notifies the magistrate immediately. They send notification
to the Judges and the DA’s office immediately. If they cut the strap the officer completes a violation letter,
and the magistrate receives and issues a warrant. A Pre-Trial officer sends it to the court as well so the court
will be up to date with this information.

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Criminal Justice / Judiciary
Action Responsible
Community Corrections and Supervision (CSCD) needs to provide similar 24/7 GPS monitoring of
probationers so that the probation office is immediately notified if an ankle monitor has been tampered with.
The current practice is not 24/7.
Short-term (6 months) BC-OCJ, BCDA
28. Increase staffing at crime lab to prevent delays in cases. Delays in obtaining reports from the Crime Lab
prevent both prosecutors and defense attorneys from evaluating low-level drug cases for possible early
resolution. 4

City and County Coordination

Action Responsible
Short-term (complete) All
29. Identify points of contact within Bexar County and COSA. Leaders and subject matter experts to work
on public safety.

Long-term (2 years +) All

30. Establish regular meetings of County and COSA leadership. Leaders will gauge progress and provide
direction.

Short-term (3-6 months) All

31. Establish regular meetings of County and COSA stakeholder workgroups. Workgroups will identify
solutions and monitor implementation.

4 Out-of-county warrant cases are by law afforded just 10 days to establish probable cause for arrests. Unfortunately, due to the current turnaround times for
laboratory reports this requirement often goes unmet resulting in release of individuals facing these warrants.
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Public understanding of the criminal justice system process and statutes.
Action Responsible
Short-term (30 – 60 days) BC, COSA
32. Create awareness on public safety action plan. Press statement to announce County-COSA strategy and
actions on public safety.
• This action plan is a starting point for addressing the issue of violence from repeat
offenders. More work will follow as Bexar County and City of San Antonio justice system
stakeholders work together and continue to meet regularly to devise solutions.
• Denial of bail to certain violent offenders. Judge Ron Rangel will lead the development of a
strategy to identify arrestees immediately following arrest and coordinate with SAPD, BSCO, and
the DA’s Office for consideration of denial of bail.
• Enhance interagency collaboration on high profile cases. This will be accomplished by sharing
information (1) between Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Top Offender Program and City of San
Antonio Police Department to prioritize and apprehend repeat violent criminals, (2) through the
Fusion violent criminal unit on violent offenders following their release to supervision, and (3) by
developing a communication tool to ensure the arresting officer, district attorney and magistrate
have complete information for a case.
• Focus on indicting felony jail cases. Reassigning prosecutors from the trial division to review
files for indictment will prevent the release of potentially dangerous arrestees.
• Enhance arresting officers information sharing with DA and magistrate. This will be done
through improved police reports, better communication on high-profile arrests and SAPD being
present in exceptional circumstances as determined by SAPD and the DA.
Long-term (1 years +) BC PIOs, COSA
33. Educate the public about process through information campaign. Discuss development of joint outreach PIOs
plan to educate public on process and roles/responsibilities of all criminal justice agencies.

Short-term (6 months) BCDA, BCIT

34. Be transparent with the public on progress. Updates and improvements on DA data dashboards to
include data on magistration, bonds, indictments, and pending cases in county and district courts.

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3 Measuring Progress / Evaluation
The following evaluation measures will be used to determine the effectiveness of the public safety action plan:
• Increase in number of repeat offenders apprehended.
• Reduction in incidents between repeat offenders and law enforcement.
• Reduction in criminal justice process backlogs:
o Intake rate at JIAA and quality of information
o Increase in rate of processing digital evidence
o Competency restoration efficiencies
o Case backlog reduction in the judiciary
 Success of impact courts in addressing felony jail cases
 Reduction in number of jail cases that have been pending over a year
o Reduction in crime lab delays
• Successful implementation of:
o Tyler Odyssey
o Axon Evidence.com
• Improved communication efforts
o Number of collaborative meetings between Bexar County and COSA
o Number of communication meetings between assigned DAs and judges
o Instances of successful agency collaboration through Fusion Center
• Impact of enhanced police report writing
• Number of reduced errors in Public Safety Report System following API enhancements
• Number of case concerns resolved by SAPD and BCDA
• Recidivism rates
• Prevention or apprehension of offenders who remove ankle monitors
• Number of outreach events or communication to community on process and roles/responsibilities of agencies

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Appendix

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I. Intake Process Flowcharts

City of San Antonio Magistrate Intake Process Flowchart

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II. Acronyms
AACOG: Alamo Area Council of Governments HHSC: Health & Human Services Commission
ADA: Assistant District Attorney JIAA: Justice Intake & Assessment Annex
ADC: Adult Detention Center LE: Law Enforcement
AP: Arrested Person MAGS: Magistrate
API: Application Programming Interface MH: Mental health
BC: Bexar County NCIC: National Crime Information Center
BCSO: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office OMNI: OMNI Base Program
BCDA: Bexar County District Attorney PIO: Public Information Officer
BCIT: Bexar County Information Technology PR Bond: Personal Recognizance Bond
BCOCJ: Bexar County Office of Criminal Justice SAPD: San Antonio Police Department
CCQ: Clinical COPD Questionnaire SID: State Identifier
CHCS: Center for Healthcare Services STOP: Sheriff’s Top Offenders Program
CMAG: Central Magistrate TCIC: Texas Crime Information Center
COSA: City of San Antonio TLETS: Texas Law Enforcement Communication System
DO: Detention Officer UHS: University Health System
FAU: Fugitive Apprehension Unit WO: Warrant Officer
GPS: Global Positioning System

III. Legal Reference

a. Texas Senate Bill 6 (Damon Allen Act)
Changes the process for setting bail by giving magistrates better information about a defendant, including their criminal history and any
required bond conditions, prohibiting release of a defendant on a personal bond in certain situations, and increasing educational
requirements for magistrates.
SB 6 requires OCA to create a system by April 1, 2022, that will create reports for magistrates to consider when making bail decisions
on defendants. These reports are called public safety reports (PSR) and the overall system is the public safety report system (PSRS).

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b. Public Safety Report System (PSRS)
The two main goals of the PSRS system are:
• Provide a summary of criminal history information to magistrates for the purpose of more effectively setting bail and bond
conditions. These summaries are Public Safety Reports (PSR).
• Provide a mechanism of reporting bail decisions to OCA.
A public safety report (PSR) must be considered any time a defendant is arrested for any jailable offense and their release on bail is
being considered. The PSR must:
(1) state the requirements for setting bail under Article 17.15 and list each factor provided by Article 17.15(a) (see pages 18-19 of the
Magistration Deskbook for these factors);
(2) provide the defendant's name and date of birth or, if impracticable, other identifying information, the cause number of the case, if
available, and the offense for which the defendant was arrested;
(3) provide information on the eligibility of the defendant for a personal bond (see pages 22-25 of the Magistration Deskbook for more
info on eligibility for personal bond);
(4) provide information regarding the applicability of any required or discretionary bond conditions (see pages 28-30 of the Magistration
Deskbook and the Magistration Bench Cards for more info on bond conditions);
(5) provide, in summary form, the criminal history of the defendant, including information regarding any: (A) previous misdemeanor or
felony convictions; (B) pending charges; (C) previous sentences imposing a term of confinement; (D) previous convictions or pending
charges for: (i) offenses that are offenses involving violence as defined by Article 17.03; or (ii) offenses involving violence directed
against a peace officer; and (E) previous failures of the defendant to appear in court following release on bail; and
(6) be designed to collect and maintain the information provided on a bail form submitted under Section 72.038, Government Code.
Bail Forms
Additionally, Gov't Code Sec. 72.038 mandates that a bail form containing certain information must be submitted to OCA through the
PSRS every time that bail is set under Chapter 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This form is not the order setting bond or
conditions, but simply a report to OCA of what occurred in the magistration. The form must:
• State the cause number, if available, the defendant’s name and date of birth, and the offense for which the defendant was
arrested;
• State the name and office or position of the person setting bail;

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• Require the person setting bail to identify the bail type, the amount of the bail, and any conditions of bail; certify that the person
considered each factor provided by Art. 17.15(a); certify that the person considered the information provided by the public safety
report system; and
• Be electronically signed by the person setting bail.

c. Article I, Section 11-B of Texas State Constitution

Any person who is accused in this State of a felony or an offense involving family violence, who is released on bail pending trial, and
whose bail is subsequently revoked or forfeited for a violation of a condition of release may be denied bail pending trial if a judge or
magistrate in this State determines by a preponderance of the evidence at a subsequent hearing that the person violated a condition of
release related to the safety of a victim of the alleged offense or to the safety of the community.

d. Texas Senate Bill 1004

An act relating to creating the criminal offense of tampering with an electronic monitoring device and to certain consequences on
conviction of that offense. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/pdf/SB01004F.pdf

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