11 March 2025, El Paso, Texas, Aysha Jusino-Camp – In the movie, “A Few Good Men,” Tom Cruise portrays a Navy Lieutenant lawyer hired to defend two marines accused of murder in a conspiracy lead by the character portrayed by Jack Nicholson, a Colonel in the Marines. Cruises character believes the two accused acted on orders from the Colonel and not of their own will. The Lieutenant decides on a hunch to put Jack Nicholson’s character on the stand and confront him. In the spur of the moment, as the questions get heated Cruises’ character takes a chance accusing the Colonel of placing the order that ultimately got someone killed.
The Colonel who demands respect everywhere he goes, as his reputation of being a stern and powerful man followed him throughout his career refuses to be treated in such an insulting way. The Colonel finally admits to placing the order in which someone died. The Col. appears to feel proud of himself for admitting such a disgrace as he owned his power and bowed down to no one and felt above all the petty people surrounding him. When it was all said and done, the Col. realized he was getting court-martialed for placing the said order, he was appalled that a man of his stature would be considered a common criminal.
On February 12, 2025, I received an invitation through email from Jessica Estrada (Assistant to the Chief of Police) to attend a meeting with the Chief of Police, Pete Pacillas. The meeting was set for February 17, 2025, at 10am. I believed that I would meet someone like the Col. described above, a man who dominated the room, with power and character who did not allow someone to come to his domain and take charge. However, upon meeting Chief Pacillas, I felt sorry for him. What I saw before me was a meek man with no backbone and unable to decide on his own.
Chief Pacillas stated he was in charge and responsible for everyone in the Police department and then when the discussion became heated about apologizing for desecrating my father’s cremains, Pacillas just sat and stared at me while holding his hands and twisting his fingers. When he finally apologized, I asked, “was that so hard?” he replied, “no” but once again he just sat and stared at me like a broken child being scorned by their parent.
As we moved on with the discussion, I asked the Chief about my husband’s promotion that he took away after my husband saved a life and he stated he did not have the power to give my husband his promotion. In which I stated, “You are one of the most powerful men in this city, you have four stars on your collar, fix it and make it right.” Chief Pacillas just gave me a blank stare and it looked as if he had tears welling up in his eyes maybe from anger, maybe from a lack of nerve or just maybe fear as I sat there and told him, “I will not go away, I will not stop writing, fix this and make it right.”
Chief Pacillas and I made an agreement that I would text him on his personal cell phone periodically so he could update me on my husband’s promotion. Pacillas stated he would do what he can and talk to “his bosses” and let me know. It has now been 3 weeks, and the Chief has yet to respond to any text message.
It is concerning to see a man who was obviously carried throughout his career be in charge and notice he is not calling the shots within the department. It almost makes you sad for him but now I understand why the corruption in the El Paso Police Department runs deep. It does appear that without the proper strong leader everyone does whatever they want. There is no foundation for success in the El Paso Police Department just a structure falling apart at the hands of God knows who. There are a few good men within the El Paso Police Department but the bad outweighs the good.