SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar joined Leading SA on Sunday morning to discuss various public safety issues, from local crime trends to New Year’s Eve DUI enforcement and the potential effects of Texas Senate Bill 4.
“Well, I’ll tell you right now, we’re seeing a couple of crimes that go hand in hand,” Salazar said. “Juvenile crime seems to be up, gun crime seems to be up, burglaries of vehicles is something that we’re seeing. And drive-by shootings is something that’s making a resurgence disturbingly enough, both random and targeted.”
With an increased risk of drunk drivers on New Year’s Eve, Salazar assured residents that there would be an increased law enforcement presence on area roadways.
“There will absolutely be extra law enforcement out there from the sheriff’s office for sure,” Salazar said. “We made a plan several weeks ago, and we’re going to have a lot of deputies out there looking for DWIs.”
He urged people to use ride-shares or assign a designated driver.
“The first sign of impairment (or) the first thing that goes is your sense of judgment,” Salazar said.
As for how Texas Senate Bill 4, which makes it a state crime to cross into Texas illegally, Salazar doesn’t foresee significant changes.
“If somebody breaks the law documented (or) undocumented U.S. citizen, if somebody breaks the law, they’re going to go to jail,” he said. “You know, for the most part, from what I have seen, the immigrants that are coming through, while they are great in number, most of those folks, they don’t want problems with law enforcement. And if anybody breaks the law, they’re going to be held accountable.”
Salazar also touted recruitment gains that will allow BCSO to add more patrol deputies and investigators to combat issues like senior fraud.
“Unfortunately, we’re seeing crimes against children and sexual offenses go up,” he said. “And so one of the things that we’ll be able to do with the influx of new investigators is beef up our special victims unit.”