Judge Wolff vs. Sheriff Salazar



Sheriff Javier Salazar
Javier Salazar – photo from Bexar.org

A lot of our readers may not realize what a big deal it is for Judge Nelson Wolff to be criticizing Sheriff Javier Salazar.  It is.  They are both elected officials which means neither one is over the other.  No elected officials want to be seen acting outside of their authority, especially when the two people are from the same political party.  The political ads against them in their next election would be brutal.

But Judge Wolff is in a difficult position.  He is being forced to have to cover for Sheriff Salazar’s incompetence by approving additional funds which puts him in a negative light.  If he doesn’t approve the funds then he is placing the public at risk.  That’s one hell of a rock and a hard place to be in and we believe it is exactly this position that led Judge Wolff into making this statement, “If he was a hired employee he would not be running the jail.”  Wow!  Judge Nelson Wolff is all but saying that Sheriff Salazar is so incompetent that he would be fired were he not protected by his elected status.  And we agree 100%.

Ego-Based Decision

Sheriff Salazar and Chief Serrato have repeatedly shown their desperate need to compete with SAPD.  They have some kind of love/hate relationship with their former agency.  Salazar made a comment, I believe it was in a Commissioners Court meeting, that the BCSO shouldn’t be patrolling just the “donut” around San Antonio.

While it’s true that the Bexar County Sheriff Office’s jurisdiction covers all of Bexar County, it is also true that, due to the lack of manpower, the BCSO has mainly acted in a back-up fashion within the city limits with their main focus being the unincorporated sections of Bexar County.  With the Sheriff’s Office being so shorthanded that they have to repeatedly go back for more money, it just makes sense to continue this process but Sheriff Salazar’s ego won’t allow that.

If deputies are being forced to patrol within city limits that means they are being stretched thinner than ever.  It also means more overtime and more money needed.  It places the overworked deputy at risk and it places the residents in the unincorporated portions of the county at risk because it will take longer for a deputy to get there.  Remember, deputies can patrol within San Antonio but SAPD has no jurisdiction outside of the city limits.

Judge Wolff’s Concerns

No one can look at what has happened under Sheriff Salazar and say that he is doing a good job.  Every sheriff faces issues but Salazar’s problems have been so extensive that it can only be due to his incompetence and we believe not only is Judge Wolff tired of paying to support that incompetence but he is also worried about the citizens of Bexar County and our county’s reputation.  We should all be worried about those things too.

Where we do have some hesitations is in Wolff’s push to get Chief Avery Walker removed from being the Jail Administrator.  Not that we are Walker fans.  We don’t think he’s doing a good job either, but we do have doubts about how much of that is his fault.  It’s obvious that Salazar and Serrato are calling the shots.  ALL of the shots, and that everyone else is doing what they need to, to keep their jobs.  We even pointed out in a previous post that Salazar said he is writing booking policy then later admits he has no jail administrator knowledge.  We would like to see what Chief Walker can do on his own but we doubt that will ever happen.  We think the two egos at the top are incapable of giving up ANY authority, no matter how small.

Below is the News4 video or you can go to their article here.

One thought on “Judge Wolff vs. Sheriff Salazar

  1. Ronnie

    Stop removing experiences officers from booking. Mistakes happen all the time in the jail setting. If anything, start with the discipline process and if it continues with the same officer then remove him/ her. Your removing officers/Sgt’s who are still in the learning process. Remember all the experience officers/Sgt’s were kicked out already. Your replacing them with new officers who haven’t been working the jail long enough. Booking section has so many things to learn with all kinds of pass words that require clearances. It’s very difficult. Just saying

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