We ask you, Chief Pacillas, when do you actually start giving a damn, really do your job, and weed out the corrupt individuals who refuse to do any actual police work? Or, is your reluctance to act proof that you would also have to remove yourself from the job for being the same caliber of officer that gives the department a bad name? Have you done any real police work, Chief Pacillas, in the last ten years? Or have you sat upon your arse and collected a check, quivering with fear you may actually have to do something other than add your name to meaningless emails written by others?

22 May 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steve Young – As Mr. Zimmerman is otherwise engaged with doctors and addressing health issues, I am stepping in and addressing new issues with the El Paso Police Department. 

Throughout this article, you will encounter sections in both bold and italics. These sections are from an email from an officer within the El Paso Police Department. 

More on Chavez. He’s being bounced around from station to station for sexual harassment complaints, still manages to keep his rank and job, but if other officers were to do that they would be made an example of. What happened to zero tolerance and being held to a higher standard?! It’s the good ol’ boy system, it’s who you know and not what you know.

Officer Chavez is a continuing problem that the El Paso Police Department (EPPD) does not want to face. EPPD would instead move this officer around rather than terminate him for cause. 

“It’s far less expensive to keep Chavez on the books and shuffle him around,” says an officer with EPPD on condition of anonymity. “If they go to the union and terminate him, he will sue for sure. What happens, though, when he finally assaults someone?” 

And this is the million-dollar question, what happens if he does sexually assault another officer or a civilian? Will EPPD then admit they knew he was a preditor and finally act? 

Let’s talk about the misogynistic males and some females running this department who hate females and belittle them or treat them differently in an obvious manner but females are scared to say anything for fear of getting punished by being sent to another region or getting “black balled”.

We keep thematic files here at the Jerusalem Press by subject of the complaint or reason we were contacted. We have one file that contains all the allegations of sexual harassment within the department and how EPPD has decided to play ostrich and bury its collective heads in the sands of denial. 

“I had a problem with officers and detectives over my career,” says a now-retired officer. “When I finally worked up the courage to go to IA to report it, they talked down at me and all but said nothing would happen. It’s CYA, and ignore us when we have a problem. They [El Paso Police Department] needs its own Me Too moment.”

We’ve read far too many comments and emails and seen too many reports provided to the Jerusalem Press that show this is the type of environment the Chiefs of Police have cultivated and are seemingly proud of. 

Why is this sort of harassment acceptable to the police but not to anyone else?

Some positions aren’t announced as they are “non-coveted” and can easily be filled by the chiefs office as they see fit where positions like headquarters spots or spots at the academy garner tons of interest from officers who are highly qualified for those positions-there are officers who need better hours due to child care or other personal issues, however are never provided that opportunity.

Another area for improvement with EPPD is the good old boy system. The El Paso Police Department claims transparency, fairness, and unity. Mere words are the end of the day as they hold no meaning and are just a hollow shell of an attempt to show all is well in the department. 

For example, the Jerusalem Press has shown that the department has a rule on overtime. This rule holds officers to no more than twenty-five hours of OT before being pulled off. Lt. Frank Rodriguez is continually allowed to go over the mandated limit, and the Chief of Police doesn’t seem to care. 

Steven Zimmerman, another Jerusalem Press reporter, wrote that Amparan was permitted to leave TxDot early to avoid violating the twenty-five-hour rule. Amparan, at one point, fell asleep on the job, allowing two people to be killed by a drunken driver. Amparan is still a police officer.  

The El Paso Police Department is a City of El Paso-sponsored welfare state that benefits a few officers by granting them unlimited overtime and the best positions. Then it turns a blind eye when they sexually harass others, shoplift, are continually caught driving drunk, and so much more. 

The good officers, the ones who try to make a difference, are ignored and treated as chattel and denied the same opportunities handed to them, and I’m reluctant to describe them this way, but scum who should have never been allowed to wear a badge.

Let’s talk about the academy- same thing, we have officers up there who shouldn’t be teaching other officers as they haven’t done anything in their careers but sleep their way to the top and complain rather than do real police work. It seems the workers are punished and the scum bags are rewarded. Morale is shit, the officers’ mental health is shit and upstairs is only focused on themselves.

We ask you, Chief Pacillas, when do you actually start giving a damn, really do your job, and weed out the corrupt individuals who refuse to do any actual police work? Or, is your reluctance to act proof that you would also have to remove yourself from the job for being the same caliber of officer that gives the department a bad name? Have you done any real police work, Chief Pacillas, in the last ten years? Or have you sat upon your arse and collected a check, quivering with fear you may actually have to do something other than add your name to meaningless emails written by others?

You, Chief, are a disgrace, and you should resign if you are without the intestinal fortitude to perform your job. 

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Mr. Zimmerman should return within a few days. If you have any information about the police department, contact him directly via the form below. If you have documents to provide, we ask you to utilize his secure email at [email protected]