“The video of him responding, the walk when he gets out of the unit,” says one officer, “it’s disgusting and a disgrace to the badge. He’s found a way to turn public service into personal gain, and no one seems to care.”

“I know a lot of other officers have brought up the issue of Frank,” says an Officer with the El Paso Police Department I met with this evening. “We’re being told not to rock the boat and stop talking to you. You listen, you share what we say. We need the people on the street to start helping us now. We need these gangstars with badges out of the department.”

3 May 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – Imagine you are a police officer on patrol in Northeast El Paso. A call comes over the radio, a shooting in progress. Eight officers respond. Shots continue to ring out, beer bottles fly, and the crowd you are trying to protect is turning against you. 

One officer sends out a TAC call. Fire Medical Services (FMS) is put on standby and cannot reach the man who has been shot and is dying on the scene. 

Another officer, another TAC call. 

Radio chatter changes to officers calling for FMS to move in. Dispatch never relays the messages. Officers work to move the man who has been shot to the back of a patrol car in hopes of saving a life that has already passed. 

Listening to the radio traffic, you can sense the desperation in these officers’ voices. They’ve never faced this situation before. Later, a cop who thinks he’s a New York mobster criticizes and makes fun of them.

When an event like this occurs, a chain of events is put into motion, and notifications need to be made. One notification that needed to be made was to the acting commander of the Northeast Regional Command Center, Lt. Frank Rodriguez. 

The video above is from Rodriguez’s car that night in October 2022. There were no lights, no urgency, just a Sunday drive while fuming with anger that he had to be taken away from an overtime position, earning him double what he makes on the streets he doesn’t want to patrol. 

“Commanders don’t perform any overtime,” says an officer from a different substation, but he wanted us to make sure everyone knows he once worked with Rodriguez. “For things like this, for Walmart, they need to be there; they get a call and are supposed to respond. How can a pretty boy respond if he has a death grip on overtime?”

Another officer who once worked with Rodrigez says, “He probably found a way to charge the migrants a fee for teaching them financial responsibility while they had COVID.”

There is a time for officers to rise to the occasion. Several officers have assured us that Rodriguez thought he was a shoo-in for the commander spot in the Northeast. He could, one could only assume, do what he wanted. 

When Rodreguez finally designed that an appearance was in order, it was well afterward. The emergency had passed, the scene was secure, and there was, as another officer put it, any danger of Rodreguez having to perform police work. 

“The video of him responding, the walk when he gets out of the unit,” says one officer, “it’s disgusting and a disgrace to the badge. He’s found a way to turn public service into personal gain, and no one seems to care.”

There is a saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” As a reporter, I doubt that. We write, and people like Rodreguez continue to get away with flagrant violations of police policy. Nothing is done. He’s given a pat on the back; he’s rewarded – all for what amounts to cowardice. 

“He wants to be this tough guy,” says another officer. “He wants to be some guy from that everyone can see power spill. That’s not him. He’s too scared actually to respond to a call. And when he got there, he started yelling and screaming and making fun of other offers.”

“I quit the El Paso Police Department some time ago,” says an officer in another Texas department. “I needed to make a clean, fresh break from the good old boy network that has become the norm within the halls of EPPD.”

This officer, who provided proof of his issues during his time in the Department, almost decided to find a new career. 

“We all have someone on a shift like your Rodreguez, someone who thinks they are better than every other man and woman with a badge,” you could hear the disappointment in this officer’s voice. “I quit when I was issued an administrative case and formal counseling from Allen because I reported a crooked cop who was arrested and reinstated years later.”

Another officer writes, “Lt. F. Rodriguez demonstrates the very being of a spoiled only child syndrome: A person who will cry and cry and have a temper tantrum if things do not go his way. He is not used to the word: NO!

“It’s beyond his intellect that NO is a word used towards HIM, and he cannot function without the act of revenge! Remember, I don’t believe that it’s my fault. It’s YOURS! The Department created this. They allowed Frank to suckle on their tiniest too long; it is time to cut ties with this Baby!”

Now, it’s time for the People of El Paso to take a stand. Here’s a list of questions for you. These questions have come to the Jerusalem Press from Officers with the El Paso Police Department who feel powerless to enact any lasting, meaningful change without your help.

1. If you have called 911 for service, have you had your calls unanswered? 
2. Do you feel safe when there may be only one or two cars on the street in your part of town?
3. Do you believe that every officer should abide by Police Policies and procedures and State Laws?
4. For officers like Rodreguez, do you feel safe knowing he will spend 30+ hours on overtime and then nap during his shift?
5. Another one about Rodreguez: How do you feel knowing that he will leave his tour of duty early so he can get to TxDot on time? Is that an excellent way to spend your taxpayer money?
6. Lt. John Surface and Sgt. Adan Chavez sexually harassed female officers, was arrested, hooked, and booked, and then eventually just had charges dropped. Doesn’t it disgust you that officers like this exist and are allowed a place in law enforcement?
7. Do the people read what this newspaper writes and puts out? Every single thing is happening here, and why don’t people care?

It is disgusting. We have a weak Mayor and City council that don’t want to act. We have people in command at the Department who will punish the officers who call out the bad cops and promote the bad cops. 

What is it going to take? A man shot and killed at a carwash for saying he had a gun. Not a single weapon was seen in the video. Sadly, the PIOs and the Department don’t like the fact that there might be provable rumors that he was unarmed at the time and no gun was entered into inventory. 

But jump on the story and get the PD side out, so that’s what we believe. 

We had a shooting at 8500 Dyer where senior officers were too busy to step in and take charge because overtime money is needed so that they could pay that hefty property tax they have for living beyond their means was far more important than a man who died on the pavement because FMS was never released. 

We have an officer, Sgt. John Chavez, who managed to pick up two DWIs, who was arrested and is now riding a desk in the Northeast rather than collecting unemployment. Of course, he will not be found guilty because that’s what happens when bad cops cover for bad cops. Video footage means nothing to a Department that will lock it, or so they believe, so no one will ever see it. 

Then there is Officer Isaac Menchac. “Officer Isaac Menchac is guilty, and the court and department know it,” says an officer who messaged us today and provided documentation of the hit-and-run and the arrest. “He, Aaron Poblano, and Enrique David Mendoza should be behind bars and unemployed. He hit a car and ran.”

Now that Menchac has been found not guilty, he is moving to the Northeast Regional Command.

It’s time to start calling Command staff and demand answers.