SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Commissioners Court presented a proposal for the upcoming budget to reallocate 12 positions from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office to different constables’ offices, a proposal Sheriff Javier Salazar has opposed.
Salazar said the 12 positions being looked at to be removed from the sheriff’s office include deputies who work with the SWAT team, the criminal investigation division, and dispatch.
He says he is all for growing other agencies. However, he doesn’t want that to come at the expense of the sheriff’s office.
“Myself and every deputy are geared toward public safety, and any position they take from the sheriff’s office directly puts the public safety at risk, and that is unconscionable to me. And I won’t allow it without at least having my say,” Salazar said.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said there was some overlap with jobs being handled by the sheriff’s deputies and constable deputies.
“We have 12 people working in the sheriff’s office that handled warrants and so were a lot of the constables,” Wolff said. “So when we looked at consolidating them with the constables or with the sheriff’s office, the decision was to move them over to the constables,” Wolff said.
A decision on the proposal is expected by the end of the week.