Update, 12 March 2024, 2133 HRS – While I was at the scene, just after 1700 HRS, I stopped an El Paso Police vehicle. I spoke with Sgt. Davis, who was able to summon a unit to the shop. The responding officer, Officer E. Castillo, took a report and has photos and videos showing who the bad actors were in this case.
We applaud Sgt. Davis and Officer Castillo thank them for taking ownership of this matter and addressing it. We are confident that the bad actors will be apprehended soon.
12 April 2025, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman—I’m on the phone with a friend as I write this article. We are talking about Nancy Gomez’s situation. We both continue to repeat a familiar phrase: “None of this makes sense.” Every single time someone comes to me with a problem about the El Paso Police Department, that’s what we all say, “None of this makes sense.”
This morning, two individuals, one of which has already been told they cannot come back into the shop that Ms. Gomez manages, entered the store, set upon crime.
Once at the store, these two individuals split up. Ms. Gomez observed the female subject concealing earrings and candy bars and asked them to leave. Ms. Gomez was not able to retrieve the items taken.
While walking the female out of the store, the male suspect approached Ms. Gomez and asked what the problem was. Ms. Gomez told him the girl he was with had stolen earrings and candy and had to leave the store. She also told the male suspect that he had already been barred from the shop and should leave.
This is when the male suspect made threats to Nancy Gomez.
Nancy Gomez related that after the bad actor told her he could come back any time he wanted, he then said: “I’ll come back for your bitch ass anytime I want.”
911 was called, requesting service at her shop for both theft and terroristic threats.
When the officer arrived, Officer David Balmer, badge number 3724, told Ms. Gomez something that should cause every single person in the City of El Paso to question the level of service we are receiving from the El Paso Police Department (EPPD) under the command of Chief Peter Pacillas.
Officer Balmer’s shocking statement also goes against EPPD’s Policy and Procedures Manual.
“‘We are really slammed right now,’ is what he told me,” says Nancy Gomez. “‘You should file the report by phone.'”
“Why is it the community’s problem officers are slammed?” asked an officer with the El Paso Police Department, with whom we spoke. “This sounds like a City problem, not a community problem. Therefore, why is the community being blamed for Officers having to respond to a call?”
This is where that often repeated phrase, “None of this makes sense,” comes into play.
Why would an officer respond to a call, enter the business, and tell the person who called for service that they are slammed and should file the case by phone?
Ms. Gomez called the number on the paper she was provided with, only to discover they were closed on the weekend.
While you can file reports online and over the phone, you can’t do that if there is physical evidence, such as a video of the suspect, to support your claim. When Ms. Gomez indicated they had video of the bad actors in this case, she was told, “File it by phone, and if TAC wants to talk to you, they will come out.”
Officer Balmer is a rookie and may need additional training or have his probationary period extended. Why? Because if someone is worried enough that another person may hurt them, the answer is not to tell them they are slammed. No, that’s not the answer.
Then, there is the contradicting information provided to Ms. Gomez by the 911 call taker and Officer Balmer.
When speaking to 911, they told Ms. Gomez to lock the door and not let him in if the bad actor returned to the store. That’s good advice. Officer Balmer told her to let him in the store and call the police.
If EPPD is so slammed that they can’t take ten minutes to make a report, what faith do we have that they will respond while the suspect is in the store? After the threats Ms. Gomez received, what assurance does she have that Officers would quickly arrive, especially with the danger posed by the threats made towards her?
Is this the Department we want out there protecting and serving us?
What makes this even worse is that Officer Balmer told Ms. Gomez that if she didn’t file the report online, she could call an officer she doesn’t know, and he’d come out and help her. Rather than do his job, Officer Balmer only offered to file online or call another officer. Ms. Gomez says he only came to her shop once.
“How am I supposed to call someone I’ve only ever seen out here because our truck was stolen,” says Nancy Gomez. “I don’t know the officer he said to call.”
We contacted Judy Oviedo, badge number 2651, the Public Information Officer (PIO) on call, asking, “Is it standard procedure when someone is threatened at work and may have video to be told to file a report online or to call an officer they believe the reporting party may or may not know?”
Once again, the PIOs refused to respond.
“There has to be something done; this isn’t right. Why do we have cops if they are not going to help us,” says Mary Lawson, a Northeast El Paso resident I spoke with at 8500 Dyer. “This is a bad part of town, and I only come here for one store. But the police, they need to do their damn job.”
Have you had similar issues with the El Paso Police Department? Have you called for service, and an Officer failed to respond or take your issue seriously? If so, we would love to share your story. Chief Peter Pacillas is reactionary. He will only correct issues once they become a matter of public record. You may reach us at [email protected]
“After reading the packet you provided me,” says Laura Escabor, “I don’t feel the chief has lived up to his word. Didn’t the chief say that there would be transparency and no officer would be above the law?”
Another person we asked to read the Chief’s packet felt the same way.
“I was an officer with EPPD for several years before taking a lateral transfer,” says an Officer who asked we not print his name. “What Daddy Pete is doing or not doing should be a clarion call to the people and the city. What he said here, what he wrote here, he’s not doing any of it.”
Have you had similar issues with the El Paso Police Department? Have you called for service, and an Officer failed to respond or take your issue seriously? If so, we would love to share your story. Chief Peter Pacillas is reactionary. He will only correct issues once they become a matter of public record. You may reach us at [email protected]