Michael Karlis
"Wandering officers are a serious problem across the nation, but especially here in Bexar County," said Ananda Tomas, Act 4 SA's executive director.
The SAPD Indefinite Suspension and Firings Dashboard, which went live Friday, includes suspension and arbitration data for San Antonio police officers between 2010 and 2022.
The dashboard — reportedly the first of its kind in Texas — aims to curb the "wandering officer" issue in Bexar County, according to leaders of San Antonio-based Act 4 SA. A wandering officer is a cop who's suspended or fired in one municipality but manages to get rehired in a law enforcement position elsewhere.
"Wandering officers are a serious problem across the nation, but especially here in Bexar County," ACT 4 SA Executive DirectorAnanda Tomas said in a statement. "It will be hard now for our local law enforcement agencies in Bexar County to say they did not have the resources to know they were hiring SAPD officers previously fired for misconduct."
Funded by grants from the Urban Institute and Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative, the dashboard allows users to see an officer's name, the type of incident for which they were suspended, their disciplinary outcomes and short summaries of the incident for which they were disciplined.
The launch comes weeks after Luckhurst, a fired SAPD bike cop accused of past infractions including trying to feed a homeless man a sandwich containing feces, ended up working in Floresville as a reserve officer.
Luckhurst has since been terminated from the Floresville Police Department. That municipality's city manager, Andy Joslin, told the Current he's now reviewing the department's hiring practices.
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