A law enforcement watchdog group has assembled more than a decade’s worth of San Antonio police firings and suspensions into an online, interactive database.
ACT 4 SA announced the website copthedata.com, which includes misconduct from 2010 to 2022. The website features a dashboard that illustrates the suspensions in various forms, including pie charts and bar graphs, and offers perspective on trends identified amid the data.
According to the website, data was assembled from public records requested from the city of San Antonio, and from the San Antonio Police Department’s data and transparency page.
On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio police officer suspended for shoving man, pointing Taser at people following orders
The database enables users to search by a police officer’s name, incident type or disciplinary outcome, and it includes short summaries of every offense that suspended officers have committed. The project was funded by the Catalyst Grant offered by the Urban Institute and Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative.
Ananda Tomas, executive director of ACT 4 SA, said in a statement that there are plans to update the database regularly and to include suspension data from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, Bexar County Constables, and other police and sheriff departments across the state.
“Wandering officers are a serious problem across the nation, but especially here in Bexar County,” Tomas said. “It will be hard now for our local law enforcement agencies in Bexar County to say they did not have the resources to know they were hiring SAPD officers previously fired for misconduct now.”
jbeltran@express-news.net