19 December 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – “I’m sending you this list,” says a long-time Lieutenant with the El Paso Police Department, “because the people should know who is up for promotion, for transparency.”

The Lieutenant told us that there was a time when the El Paso Police Department would make the Lieutenant Promotion List public.

“As time passes, it would seem to me, at least, this department is becoming more insular, more secrecy,” says the Lieutenant. “That needs to end.”

The following officers have taken and passed the lieutenant’s exam:

Since this list came out, we’ve received several emails and messages from other officers. The comments received range from names absent from the list, which are individuals fellow officers should have included, to other officers indicating that we should look at the Internal Affairs reports and history of some of the individuals on the list.

We’ll come back to the Internal Affairs Disciplinary History Cards several officers advised to request.

Other comments concerned just where these officers would be assigned when promoted.

“We already have too many officers, Lt and up, who don’t go out on the streets,” says one patrol officer from West El Paso. “We need more officers on patrol and the streets.”

To that end, in the past, we have published articles concerning the lack of officers on patrol. It is not uncommon, for example, for an area to have only one or two units out.

“I don’t call the cops anymore,” says Northeast El Paso Resident Mellissa Gadura. “I called for different things, and both times when I call 911 back, I’m told that the officers are real busy. That is not right.”

Mellissa Gadura, like so many others, has expressed the same concerns.

“My mother called the police department,” says Edward Rowallans. “There was someone in her back yard, in her shed, and it took the police just over 5 hours to get to her house. By then, the thief was long gone, along with my late father’s tools.”

There is a point to be made here: promotions are great for career advancement and department morale, but at what cost? When was the last time a lieutenant pulled anyone over and issued a traffic citation?

We requested those Internal Affairs Disciplinary History Cards and are including them in this article. Please remember as you read these cards that many of the events listed may be from years ago. Everyone makes mistakes and can learn from them.

The Internal Affairs Disciplinary History Cards: