you're watching tvsa television for San Antonio welcome to behind the badge I'm officer Robert Dart your host and it's that time of year again we are at Fiesta time so it's time to start getting ready and getting your Fiesta hats on with us today is Lieutenant uh beesen Bach Lieutenant Billy beach with the San Antonio Police Department Lieutenant welcome to the show thank you for inviting yeah Lieutenant you want to go ahead and tell us what your position is this year at the fiesta events for the year uh this year I'm going to be the fiesta Commander over the carnival so I'll be at the carnival the whole time making sure it's safe and sound for everybody to attend okay um well since Fiesta is on everybody's mind do we know dates this year uh yes the uh fiesta events start on April 26th in run through April uh 26th okay um let's see here since since you're the commander for the carnival let's go ahead and dive into that let's talk about a little bit about the carnival um well first you we wanted to pop up a website uh concerning if anybody had any information concerning Fiesta as a whole uh that website uh yes you can you can uh click on uh was it fiesta-sa.org okay and you can check on their calendar and it'll list all the fiesta events uh for the 9 Fiesta uh event and also I would recommend if people are going to be doing a lot of fiesta they can go by uh the fiesta Commission office and get this Fiesta pamphlet as well that that also list all the events okay that's good advice there well let's talk about the carnival then um where do you want to start off first well um the carnival will be held again at the Alamo Dome uh located at 100 Montana which uh in parking lot C which is on the corner of Montana and Cherry Street uh it was for the first time and since I've been on it over 20 years they they have re relocated from downtown to the Alo doome and it was a huge success last year uh it is much more open than it was downtown there's more rides uh the booths and and events that are going on at the carnival are easier to get to and uh just it's just a much better place to have it what was the uh Public's response to the department or the fiesta commission moving the carnival to the Dome versus downtown was it positive it was very positive we had a large crowds every night at the carnival and since I've been working it it seemed like there were more families there uh everybody was enjoying themselves and having a great time at the carnival um I guess parking is probably a big issue um at least it was downtown has it improved uh going to the Dome at this point it has uh parking is still issue down there but they have parking lot B which is directly uh adjacent to the carnival that they are allowing people that are driving down there that if they would like to pay for parking you can pay and park in parking lot B and then you can utilize additional parking in the downtown area and walk across um so and also I would recommend people if they're going to be coming down there if they're concerned about the parking to perhaps look at uh riding via the bus down there and do a parking ride well during Fiesta parking is going to be an issue anyway in the downtown area because everybody's going to head down there for the events that's good advice as far as utilizing via and I believe uh they have their website is via info.net and um Park and Ride is probably the best bet then uh would that would you say absolutely a lot of people use it every year it's safe it's convenient and uh you don't have to worry about it uh as far as the drinking and driving issue uh they're going to take care of you on the bus um now does the do does via drop off directly there at the dome for folks going to Fiesta or going to the carnival that is yes they do okay well that's that's good to know um let's uh talk about kids safety uh kid safety is a top priority for the police officers that are working the carnival um one thing that we instruct officers at the road calls and so forth is to keep their eyes open and if they see a small child walking around appears to perhaps be lost to go up and check on that child's safety and well-being and make sure if they are lost then we can uh locate the parents and last year we had less incidences of lost children I I contribute that to uh the area being more open and not as congested and crowded which would be easier to lose your lose your little one in uh so the officers are doing that and it's they're making a difference out there keeping track of these children but we'd also like to recommend prior to showing up to the carnival that the parents instruct their children that if they they do end up getting separated from them is to go up to a police officer and and let him know that they are lost or that their parents are lost so we had a lot of lost parents last year the children Wen lost so if they would go up and and let us know we we will get them reunited with their parents yeah with big crowds you know it's easy for uh parents and kids to get separated there that's good advice I guess you're saying going back to uh being more open then so there's a lot more Elbow Room I guess I guess for people to walk around so that probably contributed to less lost children then absolutely it it is and and as I mentioned earlier it's it's easier to to get from the different rides to get to the booths it's just spread out uh more evenly as opposed to in the middle of a street how it was set up for many many years right and uh if it takes a while for a parent to get Lo relocated with their child uh what is the police department doing with the with the children we usually have the officer if we do locate a lost child we have the officer remain at at that where he finds a child for about 15 minutes because a lot of times the parents probably within 20 to 50 feet from them and they can easily see the officer and they'll come over and and and we can give them back uh if not if it's after that 15 minutes we asked the officers bring that child to our Carnival command post which is located on the northeast corner of parking lot C where the Carnival's at okay and at that point uh the description put out and the parents will usually come to a police officer and say I've lost my child and then we can redirect them to the command post and and reunite them with their child that'll be easy for us since we all have radios we direct communication with one another um is uh other parade safety that we want to discuss uh oh I'm sorry uh safety as far as the carnival and that's what's not allowed to be brought in what is do we have a list of those items any type of ice Chester cooler you can't bring drinks in there of course any weapon s uh and that includes lock blade knives even if you use utilize it at work uh it is a city ordance violation and we will be taking law enforcement action of course any type of handguns or anything like that any weapons at all are strictly prohibited and we will be on a close lookout for anybody trying to to get any of these things in the carnival I noticed uh in the past the glass containers have been a problem is that going to be the case this year that those are prohibited as well there are no glass containers prohibited that's correct so that includes bottles beer bottles Etc that's correct okay well you want to move on to the parade then and talk about some of the issues uh some of the safety issues with the parade sure all right um uh who else besides uh the San Antonio Police Department are going to be involved uh not just with the parade but other fiesta events well at the carnival we're going to have the TABC unit we usually come through and monitor for underage drinking our vice unit will also be out there monitoring the the game booths and so forth they're responsible for following up on any complaints that we have with that and they'll be out there uh also watching for underage drinking that's that can be an issue out there and that's something that we enforce strictly as well okay and how are we going to utilize the fire department teaming up with the fire department the fire department especially during parade days uh which is going to be April 24th is the Battle of flowers and uh April 25th is the flambo yes sir parade uh they will have EMS staff on bicycles um traveling up and down the route and looking for any type of medical emergencies that may come up you know when you have two or 300,000 people along that route uh there usually someone becomes overheated or or dehydrated and may need the assistance of EMS and that's what they're there for to assist with that well that's good to know um as far as uh parade what do people need to prepare as far as for the parade if they're going to be heading out to either the day parade or the night Parade on flambo well because of the crowds and the traffic issues that we talked about it's always good to be prepared and plan to get down there early don't wait until the last minute because so many people be trying to get there as well um it always seems to to happen where the weather is either really really hot or you know plan for rain something like that's going to happen so you know bring your water down there make sure you plan with sun block and everything else because you're out there for four five 6 hours in the direct sun you can have some problems but also as you park parking is a big issue uh even at the carnival and at the parade we ask that people uh be conscious of the no parking areas the no parking signs that are posted and that they abide by them because we will relocate the vehicles and and U there could be some citation issues involved we ask that they be conscious of those that's a good advice um let's go to NIOSA then uh one of the big NIOSA is a big party uh time I know a lot people like to have a good time but we want people to party responsibly and what do what's your advice as far as anybody that's heading down to NIOSA well it would be to designate a designated driver to find a designated driver before you go down there and make sure that that person is going to drive them home if for some reason they don't do that then we we'd like to encourage them to utilize either the uh via parking ride again or get a taxi cab don't go down there and drink and then get in your vehicle and drive we will have additional officers working our roadways in San Antonio looking for those individuals okay we have the DWI unit that'll be out en forced are we going to include extra Manpower that those nights yes we will there will be additional officers on the highways looking for these violators oh that's that's excellent uh let's go to Market Square that's another big event that a lot of folks gather to uh what is your advice for those folks heading down to Market this year uh the same thing plan on parking you know plan on uh getting there early to find good parking um there again if you take your children down there make sure you let them know that if they get lost to go to find a police officer and we will we will reunite them with their with their parents um and just be conscious of your your drinking and if you go down there there again if you have drinks and so forth uh make sure uh you don't get behind that wheel and decide to drive home all right uh so anybody heading to Fiesta the advice uh from Lieutenant Beach is uh utilize via as best as possible and again that information is via info.net and utilize the parking rides that's very important and if uh people are looking for information on just Fiesta as a whole Lieutenant uh that information to go to their website and go to their website and also as I mentioned uh you can contact the fiesta Commission Office they're located off of Broadway and they will be glad to send you any information or direct you to the to the website as well but that that's probably your best source is to go to the fiesta commission they have every event listed that's good advice all right well thank you lieutenant any last minute advice here as uh we had send folks out to out the door to head out for Fiesta just be safe and and we're looking forward to having a great fiester for 2009 it's going to be safe and fun and everybody's going to have a great time thank you well thanks for being here we'll recap here in just a few minutes and uh we'll be right back on behind the badge these are just some of the things that can happen if you drink and drive I'm Police Chief William mcmanis if you're drinking and driving you're hurting this community are you ready to live with the consequences think about it it's just not worth it call a cab don't drink and drive def link is now available 24 hours a day 7 days a week in all of our substations and in our downtown headquarters it allows us to easily communicate with citizens who rely on American Sign Language so if you need assistance and you require this special sign language tool just stop by your local substation and we're ready to help you let's sit down for a second pleas hey Kayla there's Mary from your class hi Mary hi Kayla come and play oh sweetie sweetie why don't you go play with those kids over there why Imagine The Power of One Voice find yours at free freedom center.org and welcome back to behind the badge I'm officer Robert Dart your host recently the San Antonio Police Department utilized a new system where online reporting is going to be utilized by citizens of the of uh the city of San Antonio therefore making it easier for citizens to kind of generate their own report and we've put together a video for you so you can understand a little bit better you how to utilize the San Anton police Poli Department's new online reporting using the internet first from any computer what you want to do is access the internet usually by clicking on the blue e icon next change the internet address bar to reflect the address of the San Antonio website the address for the city of San Antonio is www. sanantonio.gov once you're on the homepage of the San An city of San Antonio you'll see over to the right hand side a box that says top links one of the top links listed says police clicking on that link takes you directly to the San Antonio Police Department's home web page you can also access this web page if you're more familiar with the internet and computers by typing in the address bar www.s sanantonio.gov sapd however you arrive at the homepage once you're there you'll see that in the middle of the page there's a block that says new info sapd smart initiative and filing police reports the sapd smart initiative stands for Strategic Management accelerated response time it is a program designed to enhance officers ability to respond to more serious crimes in a more timely matter there is a PDF available that explains this in more detail for now let's go back to online reporting filing police reports if you click on that link the next page will explain a little bit about this policy and how you can make your own online reports as you see here marked with the red arrow filing online reports that's more or less in the center of the screen and slightly to the left clicking on that link takes us to the next page of filing online property crime reports and other reports that are available on the San Antonio Police website please make sure to look at the crime types of crimes that are available for report reporting online prior to filling out your report there are various types of offenses that can be reported via the Internet now one question you may have is why would someone want to report a crime via the Internet instead of having an actual officer dispatched to the location of where the crime occurred well everyone's situation is different but let's say for example you wake up in the morning and your vehicle has been burglarized your options are a now you will be late to work and you have to wait for an officer to arrive to take his report or since one you do not know when this happened during the nighttime and two you have no idea who committed the crime you can simply go to work once you arrive at your place of business use the internet to fill the online report and a case number will be emailed back to you now let's go through a sample of what the online reporting form looks like if we scroll down the first one first box you see there is that you will have to select from a number of options that we just viewed on the previous page report regarding what specific crime you would like to report there's also blue accident forms those to be used in cases where there are no injuries and it's a minor accident there's also a forged check form and a credit card abuse form that can be downloaded filled out and emailed back to the police department for now let's run through a sample online report to see just how easy it is to fill out your own Report with the San Antonio Police Department you must make sure that all required fields are filled in as completely and accurately as possible to ensure that your report is filed in the middle of the page there you'll see a box with the word select entered in the Box the arrow that's pointing down at the end of that box is called a drop- down menu if we click on that drop- down menu you'll see a variety of choices that you will have to make in order to properly title this offense report in this particular case we have a variety of burglaries thefts criminal mischiefs or graffiti choices that we can make it is important to remember that this is not a tool to be used for crimes that are in progress this is only a tool to be used when the crime has already happened and there are no suspects for the purposes of this demonstration we'll choose theft 0 to $500 make sure you complete your full name as well as your complete mailing address date of birth and any other particulars to properly identify you as the person who is the victim of this crime a phone number is extremely useful so that the detective may contact you for followup and also it's important to remember to include your email address when you submit this report the reason being is since you are submitting your report electronically that's how the police department will receive your report via the Internet therefore in order for us to give you a case number we will email it back to you so it's very important that you include this email address there's a variety of location description of the locations of where the crime occurred that you can choose from if for some reason none of these seem to match your particular situation that very bottom says other by checking other this notifies the person who will be reading the report that you will enter more specific details in the detail box at the very bottom of this report as to the type of location the next item is the blue box highlighted here which is for the listing of the property that was either damaged or taken during this event in case you're reporting a burglar vehicle there's a separate section to properly identify the vehicle that was involved in this crime make sure you double check all VIN numbers and license plate numbers prior to submitting this report if we move further down along the page towards the bottom of the report you will see a small text box that will allow you to put in some details and briefly explain the situation in your own words to the best of your ability now again not every situation will allow you to report your crime online however if your particular situation calls for it you'll find that it not only saves the officer time but it also saves the consumer time as you do not have to wait for an officer to arrive at your location it is a crime to make a false report to the police department or any police agency please be advis that the information that you provide to us must be as accurate as possible possible report any false crimes as this is a misdemeanor under the Texas Penal Code once you sure that all boxes have been filled out all you do is click on the submit button in the middle of your screen and then shortly thereafter you will receive a case number this concludes the video presentation for online reports we hope that you'll be able to use this and find it useful in the future and welcome back to behind the badge I'm officer Robert Dart your host and with us today is Lieutenant Billy beach with the San Antonio Police Department Fiesta Commander for the carnival this year that's correct yes all right Lieutenant we only have a few minutes left so let's uh recap about fiesta what are the what are we looking at as far as dates this year uh Fiesta will start on April 16th and run through April 26th uh with the two parades uh being April 24th which is the Battle of flowers and the Fiesta flambo on the 25th all right and uh any uh information that anybody needs for Fiesta they can go to the website the there's two websites uh for well the first one would be for the uh Fiesta itself that list all the events and times and locations uh you can get that on the website that's listed at the bottom of the the the page here okay it's a fiesta-sa.org that's correct okay um and also if if you can check with the Via as well and find out if there will be uh the park and ride going to your event and plan plan that way and that's what you're suggesting folks do if they're heading down to the carnival this year for Park and Ride correct uh as far as even if it's even if Park and Ride does not actually go to that event uh that still the buses run through that area down there and they could utilize the via bus to get down to the Alamo Dome area and park and ride will be going directly to the alamoo Dome just to recap correct it should be yes okay good uh couple of things that uh we want to discuss what's not allowed at the carnival again this year uh any type of containers uh ice chest coolers and especially weapons of any kind lock blade knives or any type of firearms are of course uh prohibited and um we will be looking for those types of items as they come in and taking the appropriate action if we locate any okay no pets uh the only type of pet that you can bring in is if you have a working animal such as if you need that animal uh for that dog or or whatever might be for like a Cen ey dog or something like that they will allow those and no glass containers no glass containers that's correct okay and uh let's hit on kids safety one more time here if we do encounter a Lost Child what are the police instructed to to do the police will remain there with the child for about 15 minutes or so to see if the parent will locate us uh holding the child and if not that child will be taken back to our uh Carnival command post and uh that the officers out in the out at the carnival will be looking for the parents as well and last year we had several that ended up were were lost and and we were able to reunite them with their parents with no problems whatsoever okay and this year we can look for the carnival to be at the new location well last year it was a new location but it'll be new location still I guess see that it's been downtown for so many years that's right this is the second year uh at the Alamo Dome again it's at 100 Montana parking lot C it's on the corner of Montana and Cherry Street and last year was a great success lots of families came out there they had a lot of fun everybody had a good time okay good uh let's quickly talk about some of the uh parade safety um who's going to be out there helping us with the parade this year uh parade the fire department will be out there with us they're out there every year uh working the route as well uh checking for anybody uh that may have a medical emergency or medical condition that needs assistance and they'll be out there assistant us on that end of it okay good and uh NIOSA we want to stress you know partying responsibly absolutely don't drink and drive that is the most important thing uh utilize a designated driver utilize via get a taxi cab whatever it takes uh to get you home safely that's what we want you to do okay um and Fiesta same goes there I mean I'm sorry uh the Market Square events as well um we want to stress that people party responsibly down in that area as well absolutely and we'll have officer station throughout Market Square as well this year we will okay again uh fiesta-sa.org for any Fiesta information that's correct um and they will have all the dates and you had mentioned earlier a brochure that you can pick up where again you can pick up at the fiesta commission uh itself you can contact them I'm sure they'll be glad to mail you one of these uh it uh lists every event that's going on during the 2009 Fiesta uh to include uh the carnival of course Market Square iosa oyster bake there's there's a lot of events going on that I can't even name in here there's so many but this right here gives you everything the locations dates and times and all that and again we want to let people know that via uh will be doing the parking ride so uh via info.net is the website to go to for that information that's correct so we're going to have a good Fiesta this year oh we're going to have a great Fiesta just especially when you're at the parade we have those two or 300,000 people down there be patient uh be patient be safe and and plan ahead all right well thanks for being with us here today Lieutenant Beach we enjoyed having you uh on behind the badge this time well thank you very much all right and we'll see you next time on behind the badge