11 April 2025, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – Southwest News Today sent the following Freedom of Information request to the El Paso Police Department via the Office of the City Attorney:
“…We are seeking the names and charges of every El Paso Police Officer who has been arrested, and/or charged with a crime within El Paso County for the last four (4) years.”.
As a response, we received the following list. Please note that two (2) names have been redacted from the list as they are currently involved in pending litigation against the El Paso Police Department. Also note that though an individual officer may appear on this list, it does not indicate that their employment was terminated or that the Courts sentenced them:
For this article, we will use Officer Ron Martin, who was charged with misapplying Fiduciary Property or Property of a Financial Institution, and Sgt. Jessica Grijalva was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Sergeant Ron Martin was charged with theft of over $2,500 and under $30,000. Sergent Martin misused association funds for his personal use when he was the president of the Municipal Police Officer’s Association. His case record is below:
Several officers have told me that Martin used money from the Association to purchase wine or cases of wine. The purchase was not for an Association function but personal. Martin was arrested, booked, suspended, and began going to Court to answer for the charges.
We have a problem with the El Paso Police Department and how they handled Ron Martin’s case.
To keep his badge and himself out of prison, Ron Martin entered into an agreement with the Association in which he promised to repay the monies taken in exchange for the Association dropping all charges against him.
The case was dropped, and Martin was allowed to return to work as if nothing happened.
“I think it’s disgusting that he kept his job and rank,” says an Officer with the El Paso Police Department. “The Department says it prides itself in its level of integrity, and he shattered that and is still on the job.”
Every officer we spoke with said the same thing: Martin should have either been reinstated as a police officer on the street or terminated altogether.
Then, there is the case of Sergeant Jessica Grijalva.
Grijalva was stopped for going 61 mph in a 40 mph zone. When officers made contact with her, she smelled of alcohol. During the stop, Grijalva also allegedly refused to do a field sobriety test. She did do a breathalyzer, and it found her blood alcohol content to be at 0.182 and 0.190. The legal limit is 0.08 in the State of Texas.
We have another problem with Grijalva. During the traffic stop, she continually stated that she had nothing to drink and continued to ask the officers to phone a police lieutenant who would allegedly help her out of the situation she was in.
“I joined EPPD because I thought of them as the height of integrity and selflessness,” says an Officer moving from EPPD to a different department within Texas. “Over the last five or six years, it has just suffered to the point that it’s not worth being here. Double standards, no real advancement unless you are one of the in crowd, and no one seems to care. Just sad.”
The El Paso Police Department has reached a point where the good officers who want to serve the community suffer from burnout, and many are looking to move elsewhere.
“We have, no, had two real good cops on the job, and accusations were made towards them; they were arrested and fired for being arrested,” says another Officer with EPPD. “When cleared of wrongdoing, they didn’t get their jobs back. That’s the Chief for you, using two good cops to get his job.”
Yet another officer spoke of the officers on our list.
“Of those listed, there are some who are still working in EPPD, and that is the problem. If you are going to fire one or two for being arrested, shouldn’t you fire them all?”
We can still see Martin’s case records. We also know that when he returned to work, he received a pay raise per the police contract with the City of El Paso. We don’t know if he paid back all the stolen funds before the charges were dropped. Why don’t we know? Because El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas has backtracked on his promise of transparency.
Sergeant Jessica Grijalva has been afforded a DWI/DUI diversion program that seemingly removed all records of her arrest.
We all make mistakes and have problems in our lives. I believe in second chances, but not when it comes to those commissioned to protect us. Officers should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us. Additionally, we expect the El Paso Police Department to apply its policies, procedures, and rules evenly across the board. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
When the Chief of Police picks and chooses whom he will retain in the Department and whom he will terminate, shouldn’t just one rule be applied to everyone?
Maybe you should write about the police impound lot on Railroad. We had our company truck taken and the woman who took our call had no clue what she was doing. She kept saying that we needed insurance in a persons name for a truck that is owned by a company. That who ever was going to pick it up needed a business card, and all kinds of garbage. it’s like these cops are useless at best.
We do something and we get jail, get a vacation and get to keep their jobs.