Just as the San Marcos Police Officers Association prepared to meet with the city to negotiate a new agreement last week, local activists were ready to make their presence known by outlining their own set of reforms.
Mano Amiga, along with the Caldwell/Hays Examiner, called a press conference prior to the start of the city’s first “Meet and Confer” discussion with the police department on March 23. At the conference, spokespersons for both organizations used a series of disciplinary documents going back as far as April of 2021 through October of 2022 to detail highlights of action and job performance by SMPD officers over the last several years in an effort to show, in their eyes, there is a strong need for reform.
Meet and Confer is an employment agreement between a city and the police and fire departments that formalizes policies and standards for hiring, firing, pay and discipline procedures. The city of San Marcos has entered into these agreements with the police force every three years for more than a decade.
