Editor’s Note.  This is a letter Stuart Leeds and I wrote to the 34th Grand Jury.  The members of the grand jury will only receive the letter if DA Jaime Esparza chooses to give it to them.

January 11, 2012

Foreperson of the 34^th Grand Jury

Members of the 34^th Grand Jury

El Paso County, Texas

 Dear Foreperson and Members of the Grand Jury,

The District Attorney’s office has notified individuals that it will be presenting cases to the grand jury regarding certain former El Paso police officers and their conduct regarding actions taken under the STEP grants. 

Some months ago, TXDOT came to El Paso and conducted an audit of the STEP grants.  The auditors claim that certain officers were writing tickets not in compliance with the Grants.  Those officers were asked to resign.  Most of these officers had many years of service on the force with unblemished records. We know of one officer who was a SGT and had 17 years of duty.  These officers were called into a meeting where they were accused of crimes and irregularities.  They had no attorney representation and no meaningful representation by the police union.  They were in shock.

 Upon researching the issue, it has become clear that the El Paso Police Department receives Grant money for traffic, DWI, gang prevention enforcement, etc.  The terms of these Grants outline goals or more accurately “quotas” that the officer is “encouraged to meet.”  For example, the Grants say an officer should write three tickets an hour or an officer shall make one arrest for DWI while working the DWI STEP.  TXDOT will say that these are not “mandatory” goals or in plain language QUOTAS and therefore they are not illegal.

 Regardless of what TXDOT says, these goals were quotas and were in fact mandatory quotas at the El Paso Police Department.  If the officer did not meet the quotas he was discouraged from working the Grant and earning the extra money.  The threat was if the police department did not “produce” then TXDOT would not give the Department the Grants.  The heat was on the cops.

 Year after year, higher ups at the police department told officers verbally and in writing that if they did not produce the quotas they would not be allowed to work the grant.  We have enclosed an e-mail, which is one of many, which SGT Jack Mathews (recently retired-August 2011) wrote officers complaining that if they did not produce, they would not work the grant.  This policy was well known and an accepted practice at the police department.  That’s why it is in writing.

Other accepted practices at the police department by the higher ups were for officers not working STEP to kick a ticket or DWI arrest over to the Grant workers so they could get the credit.  Another accepted and approved practice was for an officer to count a ticket he wrote off Grant time as being issued under Grant time.  Under the gang Grant, officers would go to regional stations and ask for lists of wanted people and then go round them up even if these people were not gang related.  This way they could say they were “working the Grant.”  Another accepted, approved and encouraged practice was for officers to work past the Grant time to bring in the “goals” or quotas if they had not met them during the Grant time.

 All of the above listed practices were condoned and accepted UNTIL the State came in and audited the records and found tickets written outside Grant times, etc…TXDOT, which proclaims to have clean hands and not to condone “quotas” has threatened the City that if it doesn’t “clean this up” they, TXDOT, will not reissue Grants to El Paso.  Now all of a sudden these long-time officers are being run out and facing arrest and criminal charges for doing what was expected and encouraged and demanded of them if they wanted to continue to work under the Grants.    It is well known if you don’t make “quota” you will not work the GRANT for long.

 TXDOT is a problem as well.  The people at TXDOT act like they don’t have a quota because they call their quota system “goals.”  Does using one word over another really change reality?  What a farce.

 As grand jurors you should ask yourselves, “Is this right?”  “Am I going to be a part of this?”

You should issue subpoenas to former SGT. Jack Mathews and ask him about his e-mail.

You should subpoena all of the e-mails and communications the City has regarding the Grants and the administration of the Grants and review them.  The e-mail we have given you is one of many the City has.

You should ask the DA why he has not notified defense attorneys about the GRANT problems- the Defense attorneys who are handling cases with clients who were arrested under GRANTS by officers accused of wrongdoing.  (When we try and use the poor administration of the Grants to defend a client, DA Esparza and the City attorney Kenneth Krohn try and stop us.)

You should subpoena the City Attorney to ask her why she has not sent notices to defendants in traffic court who got tickets under the Grants written by officers being investigated.  If something is wrong with the ticket writing, don’t the people who were ticketed have a right to know?  If nothing is wrong and the City Attorney is not required to notice the ticket holder, then why is the grand jury, you, investigating the ticket writer?

There are City charts outlining income brought in under the Grant ticket writing vs. non-Grant ticket writing.  Follow the money.  The money is not free.  Every year the city has a budget item that presupposes a certain intake based on ticket writing.  How does Joyce Wilson, the City Manager, know in advance what that money will be if not for quotas?  Get the City budgets for the past three years and see for yourselves what is going on.  Should not the mayor and the city manager and council be responsible for this?

Is this issue not really about the system as a whole?  Should not the people in charge of running the GRANTS be held accountable and not the foot soldier?

Isn’t it always the little guy who gets left holding the bag while the problem persists and the money keeps coming in?  Rest assured, once these cops take the fall, the City will bring in a whole new fresh crop of cops to write three tickets an hour and nothing will change except we will have made criminals out of good people.  There are too many cops being accused of wrongdoing under the Grant for this to not be considered a problem with the whole system, the higher ups and the administrators of the Grants.  How is that no one at the police department thought anything was wrong until TXDOT came in?  Now the brass is running for the hills and leaving the hapless street cop exposed for following orders.

Please do not indict these good people for implementing department policy.  Please ask the hard questions.  Please look at the paperwork we have enclosed and ask for your own paperwork.  Ask for everything.

 Sincerely,

Theresa Caballero

Stuart Leeds