Editors Note: The following is written by an officer who said we may identify him by the initials of M.S.

The very word of SWAT in anyone’s vocabulary will often bring up mental images of hardened steel men and women armed to the teeth, wearing tactical vests, uniforms, helmets, the best of the best walking into the danger zones that a Police patrol unit cannot do. There is no doubt their attributes towards a prioritized scenario is often a relief for most patrol officers faced with a deadly type of incident.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the El Paso Police Department’s SWAT team is the most spoilt unit and envy of the department. Chief Pacillas babies these units as the cream of the crop: SWAT and CIT for very different reasons. SWAT the unit that holds their try outs once or maybe twice per year is grueling and gritty to say the least. There have been many officers who have tried to make it through the try outs who often end up hurt, and disappointed by failing the training session and the hard pace of trying to make it through, it is no joke to be part of the SWAT team.

One Officer, after failing miserably on the SWAT tryouts believed he was already SWAT and born to be SWAT came out with the words of “Even the Green Berets training isn’t this bad”. It could be the voice of acknowledging that he was just not cut for the team, and this was the safety net to use verbally to soften the blow of failing, after all, to speak it and to be it are two different things.

 Often, SWAT officers are young who join after patrolling the streets after a couple of years in uniform and once they make the grade, they gruel their probation period of one year being SWAT’s Bitch, it’s a school of hard knocks and lick my boots type of mentality which the older generation live in euphoria of giving back to the new rooks.

 Notably, a SWAT officer is granted a Police Unit to take home so they can utilize their vehicles for patrol and head to a SWAT call-out, whether on or off duty. The team has grown to a healthy portion over the years and continues to grow within the ranks. The older officers of tough grit and knowledge are vital to hand down their know-how to the young blood who if their ego doesn’t get in the way of their trainings will expand immensely during their careers. 

What usually happens is the newer SWAT officers begin to have a feeling they walk on water and are chosen as one of the few from the hand of God himself. This causes backlash from other officers as they see the new SWAT officers as privileged. They are expected to lead the pack of patrol officers to be the lead in all types of calls regardless of being SWAT or Patrol. Sadly, this is far from the truth, in fact most officers end up being what the patrol units describe at best as “slugs”.  They work minimally and are often calling in most times to take time off and are usually the last ones in shift meetings and the first ones out the door to get home. They desire to make it to all SWAT training (instructions) such as being a firearms instructor at the Academy to get away from Patrol to have a break.

When the Academy comes to you that’s an honor, when you beg for the Academy to have you on their training teams to teach recruits this is a “slug” and pitiful. Sadly, you will mostly see these SWAT officers ending up at the Academy shooting the shit, lazing around the outside tables and chairs, and portraying the part than being the part. It’s a fuck off day which is known throughout the department.

SWAT can do no wrong, they can destroy and tear down parts of houses, windows, smoke bomb your house, use flash bangs, and quite frankly beat the living shit out of you as a lesson, and let’s make this very clear, their videos are copied, and used for personal use to relive their glory days of doing some sick shit. I have never heard of any SWAT officer while being in SWAT while working as SWAT being suspended for their conduct, it’s unheard of, this is probably because it’s Chief Pacillas’s baby. I would love to know how much each SWAT personnel costs the city, their annual budget, and their liability of damages sustained to people’s houses all on the burden of the Taxpayer’s backs.

Let’s look at CIT and SWAT working together as a unit of one. Firstly, to understand CIT, Crisis Intervention Team these are officers who have made the “grade” to be an officer to handle serious critical mental health breakdowns of individuals in our community. The officers equipped with nice spacious SUVs with the bells and whistles have a co-pilot from Emergence Health Network usually a screener, or a counselor. They work alongside one another healing the mentally deranged to offload the burden of patrol officers and Speer them to handle more patrol calls than to be tied up for hours dealing with a Emergency Detention Order and so on.

It all sounds good doesn’t it, one would feel guaranteed that the El Paso Police Department is handling business through specialized units such as CIT can concentrate on their specializations and relieve patrol officers of that burden, unfortunately, much like the El Paso Police Department they cannot seem to get it right, why? Because the band-aid effect can only heal so much before it escalates out of control.

You will often hear dead silence across the radios when you request for a CIT unit to assist with a mental health call, it is known officers will now request CIT many times on the radio for assistance only to hear dead air, they will respond the information on their log sheets such as “requested CIT unit, no response, requested 4 times with no response” or you will often hear dispatchers say “just to advise CIT units have left for the day, or they are in specialized training and cannot answer calls”. Often leaving officers to deal with the problem who are not trained in this category. This leaves the officers to often use force to gain compliance which can often end up in an officer or individual getting hurt, or worst case scenario someone getting killed by having to result to lethal fire.

There have been instances with the El Paso Police Department of having their own CIT officers being assaulted, headbutted, injured, and having to tackle, fight the individual for compliance. The CIT unit is not trained or equipped to handle high degrees of mental health or to satisfactory have personnel to work all three shifts to better serve the community. The fault line must always go back to the top, shit cannot simply roll downwards, this is a lazy excuse used to deflect the real concerns downwards often to the hands of the officers which is grossly unfair. These officers are constantly dealing with fighting fatigue, burned out, suspended on a whim for doing their jobs, tackling endless laborious reports, constantly being hen-pecked by their supervisors, equipment failure, you name it, they live it daily they don’t get the applause they richly deserve instead they get blamed for everything at the expense of the coffee drinking and donuts dunking Chiefs office.

Let’s not look at the elderly fleet of their vehicles to respond to calls, someone in their budgeting may need to look at replacing their fleet every five years to properly serve their community, imagine having equipment that flows smoothly and works, new equipment builds morale, builds a force of respect and dignity instead of a rust bucket filled with bolts blowing out black smoke from the muffler and rattling along to a call, not the perfect image for a city or their police department, or their officers. It better resembles the squeaking old joints and failing mind of Chief Pacillas, give Chief one of those failing cars after all if it’s good for the Officers then it’s good for him, no wait that would mean Chief would be part of his officers, he would care, we can’t have that now can we.

Case and point: The exchange of gunfire with a mental health man in Escondido that happened recently. A man who has had mental health issues travels to El Paso and stays with his family, he is known to get violent, known to take drugs, and is known to have several diagnoses of mental health issues. A call is generated due to possible loud music and a welfare check called in by his family members. CIT jumped on the call because it’s a fairly easy call, a welfare check, and it’s early in the evening so let’s overkill the call with several CIT units to check on him. While several CIT units go to this address we can hang around and skate on the call so if something else comes through we can be tied up so we don’t need to respond to the more important call coming in to help officers. This is alive and well within the department, causing wait times to explode for hours and days of not being responded to. 

CIT confirmed from the family member that she is afraid of his behaviors, and she does not feel safe with him inside the residence. CIT gain all the information including diagnosis, mental health history, and substance abuse all the necessary information to gather to properly analyze the information versus the characteristics and verbal communication of the individual when they meet up with him. So far so good. Looking from the outside everything seems to all above board.

A male and a female CIT officer make contact at the front door, and they start making small talk with the individual in question. The apartment is on a top floor and a narrow type of walkway to the front door. Officers ask several questions and tag team each other to ask him the very same questions in a different manner. Keep in mind information was released by a family member of their safety being around the subject and the erratic behaviors, anger problems, etc. The officers decided that the inquiry, the communication from the individual, and the information from family members does not meet any of their criteria to hospitalize the subject and proceed to leave the premises. *Remember these are just officers without any formal or any professional training in mental health or hold no formal education* (most officers go to CIT to get off Patrol duties)

Within 24 hours the same subject is armed with a high-powered rifle begins shooting bullets into the street outside his apartment, Police respond, and the responding officers are met with hostile fire towards their police vehicles. SWAT and CMT (Crisis Management Team) formerly known as Hostage Negotiators is called out, but it’s apparent the individual is having a massive crisis and a highly deranged full-scale mental meltdown. *Remember CIT stated:” He does not meet our criteria”* and now we are involved in a full-on assault with high-powered rifle gun warfare where stray bullets are being blasted across streets, through apartments, into police vehicles it’s a shit show in massive proportions. After several hours of a barrage of gunfire, and verbal negotiations, the subject is put down by a lethal shot from a SWAT sniper.

My question reigns hotter than a live round ripping through your flesh is simple: Who dropped the ball? Who is responsible? Who is liable? Who failed to do their job? Who is taking accountability? These should be the questions being asked by their community and by the local media who are in the back pockets of the EPPD. The buy-off to carry the story of 30-second clips and never to mention it again is unjust and disgusting. KTSM, KVIA, KFOX, CBS4 when are you all going to stop being “Entertainers” and return to “Journalism” hard-hitting factual reflection of the community’s words to report the truth?

Why didn’t these CIT Units act when they had every possible red flag awarded to them by family members? Why didn’t they enter the apartment and take a closer look for a welfare check, the living conditions, or anything that would raise concerns? Are CIT officers immune to discipline, suspensions, and Internal Affairs interrogation? Why was this not covered and why are there more questions than answers?

Imagine the set of circumstances if these CIT units, the experts in their field to support patrol would complete their job functions thoroughly. I wonder what the result to this incident could have been. There could have been a significant difference to the outcome that officers and our community were subjected to on this day. Mental Illness is no excuse to crime or law but the failure to do one’s job in the capacity of a specialized unit to be specialized in their field is something to frown down upon.

The lack of expertise and professionalism on this day is a grave concern to any person who calls themselves an El Pasoan. This would have to be one of many failures, yet nothing is scrutinized, nothing is done except a city check written out to the families to hush them and to bury the problem. The city of El Paso has become a city of ostriches burying our heads into the sand ignoring the real problems. The problem of the El Paso Police Department has been in disarray for years because its citizens just put up with secondhand services.

 This would not be tolerated in any major city. It is important to understand when society allows its city to perform on a low level of functionality then you get the city and services you deserve. You (we) deserve much better than a fake promise, we deserve action at the highest level. It’s time to put the El Paso Police Chief’s on notice and demand better expectations. The new Upper East station is a mere ghost station to operate at a skeleton staff, it’s a sham and it’s hardly functional with low officer retention, low recruitment, low incentives, low morale, and no accountability from the Chief’s.

Good officers who hold education, professional skills, backgrounds, military combat will be thrown to one side as the “yes men” of patrol to secure themselves at the top to run away from law enforcement to wear a comfortable accountant’s suit. The real men and women of blue are on the front lines who are depleting every single day for they have no support from their own, it’s a true tragedy of incompetence at its real core. CIT is a useless outfit manufactured by Chief Pacillas, time and motion should be instilled into Chief’s daily logs, and CIT officers should be held accountable, so SWAT doesn’t have to clean up their mess where blood stains the pavement where they once walked as a patrol officer.

Chief Briones, how did your rule of authority play out for the little wooden sticks? I see officers refusing to wear them as they have stated they are useless like the @$^** idiot who ordered us to wear them. PR-24 Rodney King sticks versus handheld safety shields for officers to get them home safely, apparently this isn’t a priority for officers’ safety, that should be a recruitment PSA for the department. But then again from Chief Pacillas lips “There’s no law in killing yourself”. Until Chief Pacillas and his little dwarfs go out into harms way in a patrol unit answering mental health calls or calls in general? you will never have the ears of your Chiefs. It’s beneath them, instead measuring your fingernails, your beards, your hairs, your tattoos being covered up, your polished boots, and any other useless attempt to justify their existence will be their only form of detail, remember, THEY work for YOU, not the other way round. Hold them accountable as they love to do to you based upon their failures.

Shame, Shame, Shame EPPD