DEPARTMENT: Police Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William P. McManus, Chief of Police
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT: Update - CMAG/AAPC
SUMMARY:
In 2016, Bexar County notified the SAPD of its intent to assume control over the magistration process and to relocate central magistration to the County’s Justice Intake & Assessment Center (JIAC) that was to be constructed within the existing County Jail complex. SAPD and Municipal Court officials met with the County several times through 2017 to review design plans and identified several capacity and custody transfer concerns that would significantly impact SAPD operations. As a result of the inability to adequately address the stated concerns, the City is in the process of transitioning the City’s Central Magistration Facility to the Arrestee Administrative Processing Center (AAPC) to allow the City to magistrate City arrestees. The transition is designed to save officer time and create process efficiencies that will benefit officer and residents. The transition process was completed upon the County vacating the Frank Wing facility on December 17.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Current Operations
Annually, the CMAG processes all arrestees within Bexar County which totals approximately 65,000 each year of which nearly 65% are comprised of SAPD arrestees. The current CMAG facility accepts prisoners immediately upon entry into the facility and prior to the completion of the report-writing process which on average takes 1-3 hours to complete.
Over the last several months, there has been growing concern with the regularity with which arrestee commitments were being held by Bexar County beyond the 18 hour limit. An analysis conducted by SAPD Detention staff confirmed that during the period of August 2018 through September 2018 a total of 4,083 arrestees were transported to Bexar County Jail with over 80% held over the 18 hour limit, in violation of the ILA between the City and Bexar County. In response to this situation, the City resumed City magistration of city arrestees in November 2018 in an effort to significantly reduce the average number of hours arrestees spend in the CMAG.
Proposed County Operations
As discussions with Bexar County regarding its proposed magistration facility progressed in 2016, County officials confirmed that the design plan could not be modified to achieve the operational efficiencies critical to SAPD. Department concerns with the proposed facility center primarily on capacity and custody issues as detailed below. In addition, the Office of Innovation calculated that operational delays that would be experienced by SAPD officers at the proposed County facility would cost the Department $4.4 million annually, the equivalent of 38 officer positions.
A review of the cost per arrestee among major Texas cities confirms that the City of San Antonio has the lowest cost per arrestee compared to Houston, Dallas and Austin. The cost per arrestee utilizing the AAPC is $134.51 which is significantly less than the $262.79 projected cost per arrestee under the County-proposed option utilizing the JIAC.
Capacity
• Adequate parking for officers booking prisoners
Current CMAG facility accommodates the daily load of police vehicles engaged in prisoner transport, including peak volume hours that often exceed 25 vehicles. The sally port area of the proposed Bexar County CMAG facility does not appear to have enough space to accommodate the peak volume days/hours. This creates the potential for delayed sally port accessibility which will result in longer waiting periods for SAPD officers during peak hours. In addition, other larger emergency vehicles, such as EMS/Fire trucks, will take up additional space within the sally port when responding to emergencies.
• Adequate report writing area for Law Enforcement (LE) personnel
During peak hours, the current CMAG facility can accommodate approximately 20 officers at various stages in the report-writing process. It is unclear, based on the design drawing, how many officers the new process will support. Additionally, there is concern associated with the number of DWI processing stations and accessibility to District Attorney (DA) personnel because of the design.
• Adequate area for medical screening
The current Bexar County CMAG design plan proposes a single room for intake medical screenings. Due to privacy laws, this will limit medical screenings to one individual at a time. As a result, officers attempting to complete custody transfers will experience compounding delays.
• No public inebriate processing
The current CMAG facility accepts public inebriates and ensures sobriety prior to release. Currently, the CMAG facility accepts an average of 200 public inebriates per month with the actual load being concentrated during peak hours on the weekend days. The proposed Bexar County CMAG facility does not provide any public inebriate detention. As a result, SAPD will be required to maintain a secured inebriate sobering facility.
• Adequate Class C prisoner processing
The current CMAG facility processes approximately 50 Class C prisoners a day. The JIAC has no dedicated space for Class C prisoner processing which is inadequate based on the volume of individuals processed at the current CMAG facility on a daily basis.
Custody
• Acceptance of prisoners
The current CMAG facility accepts prisoners immediately upon entry into the facility and prior to the completion of the report-writing process which on average takes 1-3 hours to complete. Based on the design of the proposed CMAG facility, SAPD officers will be required to maintain custody of prisoners upon arrival for longer periods of time which will result in decreased efficiency and delays in returning to service in the field.
Arrestee Administrative Processing Center (AAPC)
In anticipation of the transition of the CMAG to the AAPC, the Department completed a review of existing contractual agreements and equipment needs in early 2018 to ensure a seamless transition upon Bexar County vacating the facility.
• UHS Medical Screening Contract
On June 21, 2018, City Council approved the execution of a new two year contract with UHS to provide arrestee medical screenings at the AAPC to be executed upon Bexar County vacating the facility.
• Bexar County Interlocal Agreement - Magistration
The Department elected not to enter into a new ILA with Bexar County due to failure to reach agreement with respect to magistration. The County sought to execute an agreement that assigns control the magistration process to the County and would result in continued commitment delays for arrestees beyond 18 hours. The City remains committed to magistrating City arrestees.
• FY 2018 Mid-year Budget Improvements
City Council approved a FY 2018 mid-year budget improvement in the amount of $198,601 to fund the purchase of equipment and services to support the continued operation of the AAPC. Among the items funded by the mid-year improvement were the revised UHS medical screening contract, additional computers and a SmartScan system.
Transition
Effective Monday, December 17, 2018 at 7:00am, all City arrestees charged with only an outstanding Class B or higher arrest warrant will be transported to the new Bexar County JIAC. Arrestees with new charges or outstanding Class C warrants will be transported to the AAPC for processing and magistration. Since the transition, a total of 2,521 arrestees have been magistrated at the AAPC with an average hold time of 6 hours and 20 minutes as of January 13.
The City and County have committed to meet regularly once the transition is complete to ensure issues that arise are addressed quickly to minimize process delays.
Proposed County Improvements
On January 8, 2019, Bexar County presented the City with a proposal outlining solutions to the operational and capacity concerns identified by the SAPD. The table below provides an overview of the County’s proposals and the associated costs to the City.
|
Issue |
County Response |
Projected Cost to City |
|
Officer delays due to process time |
County will ensure appropriate staffing and procedures to ensure officers are not delayed |
$1.4 million annually |
|
Processing of Class C Public Intoxication (PI) arrests at JIAC |
County prepared to accept PI arrests at JIAC |
$270,000 annually |
|
TOTAL ANNUAL COSTS |
|
$1.67 million |
|
Lack of secure area to store evidence and arrestee property |
Modifications to JIAC to accommodate requirements |
$335,000 |
|
Need for enlarged courtroom for bail hearings and larger workspaces for District Attorney and Public Defender |
Modifications to JIAC to enlarge the courtroom area |
$268,000 |
|
Processing of Class C arrests |
Provide option of building out 1,500 sq. ft. space within the Comal St. parking garage to include parking for SAPD |
$670,000 |
|
Enlarge DWI area |
County prepared to make modifications to accommodate additional intoxilizers and interview stations |
$201,000 |
|
TOTAL ONE-TIME COSTS |
|
$1.47 million |
Staff is in the process of reviewing the County’s proposal, obtaining additional details regarding the proposed improvements and modifications and assessing the fiscal impact of the costs associated with those improvements.
RECOMMENDATION:
This briefing is for information purposes only.