Failures by Salazar Administration Lead to Inmate Stabbing
Inmate Makes Dangerous Weapon
Ashton Lomas, in jail on a capital murder charge, was somehow able to get a nail then turned that nail into a weapon by wrapping it in plastic. We suspect it worked like a sap with the nail sticking out. Lomas then struck another inmate multiple times with his homemade sap, driving the nail into the inmate. No information has been given on the inmate who was assaulted. Considering Lomas has a swastika tattooed on his head, I have to wonder if this was another Classification failure and if the Sheriff is trying to keep that information from getting out.
Overworked Exhausted Deputies
Regardless of whether it was or wasn’t a Classification failure, it is a failure on the part of the Salazar administration. As we have mentioned before, this administration has only had two Detention officer classes this year when the norm used to be 6 – 8 classes a year. Employees at the jail, both officers and civilians, are disgusted with the poor leadership and are leaving in droves. Those who are still there are exhausted and demoralized at the Sheriff’s willingness to paint them as bad employees every chance he gets.
How did Lomas get the Nail?
With so many deputies leaving, the new class of Detention officers will probably still be a net loss in the Detention officer numbers. There is no way for it to have put much of a dent into the almost 200 vacant positions. No doubt an investigation will be done to find out how Lomas got the nail. And more than likely Salazar is going to trash some poor, overworked deputy in front of the media so he can pretend to be a strong sheriff.
But Salazar is expecting the impossible and when it can’t be achieved, he is using his employees as fall guys. You cannot do everything you are supposed to do when you are almost 200 people short in staffing! I can’t even imagine how low morale must be under this administration.
Constant Bragging Mode
Yet, with all the problems, Sheriff Salazar is still in constant bragging mode. Sometimes he dresses it up under the ‘I’m a tough sheriff’ comments such as when he acted tough about people who should never have been let in the jail. Just ignore the fact that he chose to carry the commission of a man who had previously been forced to pay back money for items that he had stolen from the Sheriff’s Office. Move along. Nothing to see here folks.
And other times he just flat out brags as he did in the interview about auditing the civilians that work at the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. In that interview he tried to get us to believe he has very high standards by saying, “Out of 2,900 applicants this year, we’ve only hired 114.”
Salazar has Created a Hiring Disaster
Let’s look at his claim. To begin with, I doubt they’ve actually hired 114 people. More than likely they recommended 114 people to continue with the hiring and training process. There will be people who changed their minds while in the hiring process, people who changed their minds while in the training process once they see what the job is really like, and people who don’t pass the training class.
From what I have been told, the training classes don’t usually have more than 30 people. Remember, he’s only had two training classes this year. That means only 60 people if they all got through the class and if the classes were full. How many of those brand new workers stay once they get a taste of all the mandatory and forced overtime they have to do?
But all that aside, Salazar is saying they found 114 out of 2,900 people, acceptable for hire. That’s just a touch shy of 4%. Really? If the hiring rate is so poor I can only see two problems. They are recruiting in the wrong places or the standards have been made so high that it is almost impossible to find people who will meet those standards and who will be willing to accept the low pay and abusive work conditions.
Put the Blame Where It Belongs
By his own words, Salazar is the one who has pushed for the ridiculously high standards. He has done it in hopes of fooling the citizens of Bexar County about what kind of sheriff he is. But all it really means is that there will be no relief coming any time soon for the Detention deputies and there will be more mistakes that could cost deputies their careers or rank just so Sheriff Salazar can promote himself.