and welcome to this episode of behind the badge we have with us uh chief of police william mcmanus here with us he's been kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule chief it's been two years since you've taken command of central san antonio police department an obvious question would be now that you've been here for two years you've had a chance to get to know the city and the department how do we compare to some of the other major cities you know the more marcus i get to know the police department learn the players and learn the city it becomes more and more apparent to me that this is not one of the best but the best police departments in the country and i've not just the ones that i've worked at but i've had exposure to a lot of different police departments through a lot of different police chiefs and conferences and that sort of thing and we rank right up there with the best if not the best some of the changes that you've made have been obvious such as changes in the uniform and walking through a warrant for family violence and other violent offenses how have these changes help the department i think that the changes have made a positive mark on the department the whole idea behind making changes to make the organization better but in order to make the organization better the changes have to at least be understood and hopefully agreed to by by most of the police department i think we've accomplished that pretty much across the board any more changes coming up that you want to talk about i i i don't think change is good just for the sake of change but you know as we go along and and as we project and forecast you know down the road look at the horizon i think that you know inevitably there'll be more change and it'll be positive for the for the department good for the officers good for the city many citizens have expressed how you seem to be more visible to the public and more accessible how important is it to you and how important do you think it is for the public that the chief be accessible i don't think you can run an agency whether it be a police agency or any other agency i don't think you can run it from behind a desk you've got to be out there you've got to be visible you've got to be accessible you've got to to know your officers they have to know you and i think that um if you're able to do that and balance the administrative part of it with the with the moving about part of it you're better off as a leader chief before we talk about fiesta this year we've seen the public service announcements we remind people not to drink and drive we've also seen a short presentation that you made recently at lee high school we'd like to show that to everyone right now are the folks who made that film out here sitting down here yes no still working would you all raise your hand there's some behind i can't tell you how moving that was and how powerful that was how many of you here got a lump in your throat watching that i did i did um how many of you in here don't know that you shouldn't drink and drive everybody knows that right okay then i'm not going to stand up here and tell you that you shouldn't drink and drive but i want to just give you something some things to think about and hopefully they'll you'll think about it for a long time let me tell you two quick stories several years ago i lost a family member to a drunk driver i was born and raised in philadelphia a place far away from here in a place that i'll probably never go back to my family was very close-knit and i had a big family we all grew up in the same neighborhood so we were all very tight i got a call several years ago that one of my cousins one of my first cousins was on her way back from the beach she was being followed by her husband in his van and when they were almost home a car that was coming the opposite direction crossed over the outline hitting my cousin's head head-on and killed one of her children and her husbands watched that from the back as it happened um it devastated them for years for years they were on medication and they couldn't work i mean they were just their lives were destroyed when i was in high school i was a senior i lost two of my best friends both riding in the same car to a drunk driver i don't know if they were drinking or not but the person who hit them was drunk and those guys were killed the the effects and the devastation that that causes are unforgettable um did you ever hear of a movie called signal 13. that was the 1960s version of the shattered dreams except it was a little more provocative i guess and a little more blunt if you can be any more blunt than this it was a little more blunt than that a little more gory than that they took us to an auditorium just like this and they showed us a film of all these horrible horrible accident scenes and they were real i mean they showed you all kinds of gore and it was meant to scare you into not drinking and driving it was pretty important is this topic of dwi you know marcus if if you look at the numbers of people killed and injured let's just narrow it down to bear county san antonio the numbers are staggering and it it uh it's devastating to see the number of people that are killed and injured and the ripple effect that that has on on the uh the health you know the the hospitals the the health the mental health communities on marriages on you know families families in general and the court system on the police the ripple effect that that just waves across the city is just incredible and taking all that into consideration i think that the focus the attention on dwi i don't think he can overstate the importance of it next sergeant charlie delgado with a closer look at dwi's and its effect on san antonio plus more with chief mcmanus that's next on behind the badge welcome back to behind the badge i'm officer robert dark today we're speaking with sergeant charlie delgado with the traffic investigation division sergeant thanks for taking the time to speak with us today it's my pleasure to be here with you today sergeant what is it that you do with the san antonio police department i am the supervisor of the day shift of the traffic investigation detail here at the san antonio police department i've been supervisor for about three years now i've been in the unit though prior to as a detective since 95 so i've been there for quite a period of time sergeant what does san antonio rank in the number of dwi arrests in comparison to other texas cities comparisons to texas cities were 1.7 above the average for texas cities uh nationally we're about 11 over the national level for dwi related deaths well what do these numbers say about san antonio is it a problem or does the numbers point to good law enforcement no unfortunately i have to say it is a problem for san antonio we do our share of attempts to enforce the law for dwi however we still have a problem here we have a serious problem about 50 percent of all of our accidents are alcohol or drug related we need to bring that number down drastically i think if we concentrate on a lot of facets we'll be able to reduce that number but it's going to take a lot of work so i think to answer your question again we have a problem and it's quite a big problem what were the numbers in 2007 well once again here in san antonio currently as of 2007 47 were alcohol related three percent addition to that were drug related so in totality drug or alcohol related we have a total of 50 percent and so far in 2008 what are the numbers indicating well unfortunately we don't have the stats yet for 2008 it takes the time for medical examiner to provide analysis and to have feedback to us as to what the results are however we are continuing to have a rise in the number of fatalities and most of these fatalities occur at night and of course nighttime we have a lot of drinking at present time we have 28 fatalities compared to last year where we were sitting at 21. does any particular case stand out in your mind sergeant unfortunately i do have one that pops into my mind it happened on november the 4th of 2005. so early in the morning we got the call for a wrong-way driver on ih-10 that had had a crash with another car and we had two confirmed fatalities at the scene and possibility of more so we headed out there that morning it was cold and it was just something you don't expect at that hour of the morning to have a wrong way driver on ih-10 so we arrived at the scene and we saw the scene and it looked like a bomb had exploded there was debris all over for spread out for hundreds and hundreds of yards and of course they're lying on the ground we have a three-year-old little boy and he was pronounced dead at the scene and lying close to him as his mother she was 23 years old both of those individuals lost their lives instantly and then the the driver of the same car the husband was taken to the hospital he was in critical condition and unconscious then we have the other part there the suspect the suspect's a young 20 year old male he was a college student university student and he had been drinking and driving and he had all the signs of intoxication he was taken to the hospital in and at the hospital we did of course our normal routine of blood draw and that yielded our evidence for this case what kind of evidence was presented in this case well in this case we we use of course the blood evidence he was above the .08 which is the legal limit for driving and there was other things that we use such as uh there was a myspace uh page that he had we had we were aware of that and we quickly captured it and he boasted that he was he used to party and that he used to drink and that was all stuff that we could use against him so there was a whole bunch of witnesses that came forth to assist us with driving facts and what they observed that day and we were able to have a successful prosecution is this becoming an epidemic in young adults do you see well the word epidemic really doesn't fit i would say though it is a persistent persistent problem the the problem is that we are seeing a continuing rotation how would you say the the cycle continues where the we see the same amount of alcohol-related deaths every year and they're not coming down they're seeing pretty consistent about 50 which is too much and we are seeing a lot of young kids out there drinking and driving so we we we need to address those issues shrinking uh last year we issued citations to 1809 persons for either minors in possession or minors consuming alcohol and that's quite a significant number it's telling us that we have a problem and those are just the ones that are cited of course there's so many more that aren't cited but we need for the community to wake up and say hey this is enough we've had enough we have to stop the cycle of believing that drinking and driving is socially upset acceptable we have to stop that and show that it causes a lot of hurt to a lot of people and getting back to the case sergeant what was the final verdict he was found guilty and he was given two concurrent sentences for each count of manslaughter intoxication manslaughter 12 years each plus in addition to the 12 years after he gets out of jail he's going to have to serve 10 years of probation so he he has a long long time where he's going to be involved with the police in some way or other probation incarceration has a lot of ramifications for drinking and driving and sergeant what is the message the san antonio police department wants the public to know concerning dwis we're doing our part we have a lot of enforcement out there dwi shift we have overtime by federal grant money officers are hired for overtime dwi enforcement so we're doing a lot on our part but we need the public to join us we need them to join us and tell us look we have to have a designated driver i believe in that they if they're going to go and party do so but do it so do so in a safe manner do it in a way that you're going to be able to say i'm going to get home have it planned out how you're going to get home and if you're beyond that and you're out call a cab call a cab get home safely or catch the bus or better still just call a friend any anything to avoid drinking and driving though that's the main thing you have to do avoid drinking and driving sergeant thanks for taking the time to speak with us this afternoon you're welcome and when we come back to behind the badge officer trujillo will have one final word with the chief of police this year there's going to be some changes to fiesta one of the events the carnival will be moved to the alamodo so in effect this year fiesta will stretch from i-35 and the market square clear across the city to the alabama dome once you encompass la vieta do you think it'd make it easier for people to find parking that want to attend these events uh what's your perception on it'll be easier uh there's gonna be parking right over at the alamo dome i think it takes a lot of the the congestion and the tightness that was created downtown by the carnival and it eliminates that of course we're still going to have the the crowds at market square of course we're still going to have the crowds at market square but i think that just removing that carnival piece of it to the alamo dome is a plus chief it's been a pleasure having you on the show we appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to accommodate us are there any last words you have for our viewers out there in as far as their participation in fiesta events and celebrating safely we want everybody that comes down to to fiesta and visits this great city of san antonio to have a great time but just as importantly we want everybody to be safe and we're going to be out there making sure they're safe as you well know i'm sure you're going to be working working fiesta but we want everybody to come down and enjoy themselves and and get home in one piece now more with chief mcmanus and his recent visit to lee high school and then someone came out on stage and said look at the person next to you and tell them goodbye because you may never see them again because tonight they may be killed in a drunk driving accident that's that's pretty blunt it's pretty scary um and it wasn't that night but it was not too long after that that louis rigiano and lizzy my two friends were killed in that in that drunk driving accident there are people out there you're their world you are their world your families teachers right now you are their world there are people out there it may not be your family your friends people younger than you people older than you people a lot older than you look at you and you know they watch what you do they want to be you there are people out there who want to be you there are old folks out there who would change who trade positions with you any day they want to be young again there's young kids out there that see what you all are doing and they want to be you because they want to be your age you want to be going through what you're going to go through all the things that you have in store for you for the rest of your lives especially the rest of your young lives all the new experiences and the things that you look forward to college getting married having kids having a great job all those things that happen in your in your in one's life and one's like the point that i'm trying to make with that is that your lives are so so important and you are so so valuable to others in your life some some that don't even know you so when you go out to party and somebody sticks a beer in front of your face or sticks a joint in front of your face think about all those things have you ever wondered what it's like to be in jail ever wonder do you know how many people's lives are wasted in jail i visited prison believe it or not even as a police officer for 33 years i don't think that that jail is is a place where i like to put people i visited jails visited people in jails and you know what you hear when you walk through prisons at night you hear men crying weeping out loud because they miss their families they miss their kids they miss their wives they miss the freedom if you want to know what jail is like go find a room a real small room like six by ten with not very much in it and lock yourself in there and stay in there for as long as you can you're not working you're not being productive you don't have any company you can't pick up the phone and make a call you can't walk to the refrigerator and grab a soda or grab a snack you can't do anything except think and your thoughts drive you crazy because you're stuck there so all these things are related to the consequences of drinking and driving and just getting in trouble in general so i asked you to think about it and you know i'm not normally this serious when i talk but this is a serious issue because people's lives are at stake here your lives are at stake here and your futures are at stake here so like everyone else who has spoken to you already and like everyone else who will speak to you after me please think when you're out think about consequences think about your family don't get caught up in the spirit of a party or spring break because there's an aftermath to that and the aftermath of that could be really really devastating to your lives and your family's lives and everyone that knows you i wish you a happy spring break may god bless you and good luck to those of you who are graduating this year for this episode of behind the badge hope everybody enjoys their fiesta safely we'll see you next month with a new show you