EPPD: The Department's Flat Tires

Since December 2024, we have received complaints from El Paso Police Officers from the Northeast Regional Command Center. Each complaint singles out Lieutenant Jones and Sergeants Harvel and Thomas.

What is the nature of the complaints?

"It's because they [the Officers mentioned earlier] wanted to sleep in," says an officer from graves. "They don't like coming in at 4:30; they wanted a later start time."

What Jones, Harvel, and Thomas did, and what Commander Hernandez seemingly agreed to, are the following start shift start times:

The Sergeant's times before: 0430 -1430 hours

Officers' times before: 0500 -1500 hours

Now: Sergeants 0530 – 1530 Hours

Now Officers 0600 -1600 Hours

"Like you wrote in another piece," says another Officer, "there is a time when there is only a seven-unit out there, and they were not taking calls, just doing proactive patrols. There is now a golden hour from about 5:15 to just after 6 AM, during which no one was on Patrol in the Northeast."

We are told that a minority of officers, Jones, Harvel, and Thomas, not only decided when Officers would start their tour but also when the people of Northeast El Paso would be left vulnerable.

"Graveyards have no one to assist them with the backlog of calls," says another Northeast Officer. "This forces days to take care of backlogs and other necessary forms of patrol work, like prisoner transportation to the jail for graves, and medical clearance checks for prisoners, to help graves not get too much overtime and fatigue, causing more of a backlog on the day shift."

Jones ordered the start times to be changed in January 2025. All the Officers we've spoken to are against the new shift times. Starting later in the morning and ending their tour later in the afternoon has caused schedule complications for officers, such as child care issues, traffic problems, fatigue, and low morale.

"Why is there a seven-unit from 0500 to 1500, and he doesn't take calls? It's not right," says another Officer who emailed us.

"The Commander utilizes the seven-unit (1S764) as a full crew unit to use as a DDACTS unit to be proactive in trouble spots, dealing with the Triangle, transients, and general hot spots in and around the Northeast. The seven-unit can assist patrol calls if they choose to," says an officer who left the Northeast. "Still, ideally, they are purely there to do a DDACTS as authorized by Commander Ignacio Hernandez to have a somewhat 'Scarecrow' form of Patrol to deter crime! This has done nothing to curb crime nor provided any formal assistance with the Patrol."

To make matters worse, the Commander has selected another unit from PAR whose only job is to enforce civil issues, such as illegal parking, illegal dumping, and abandoned vehicles—doing the job of Code Compliance.

"The department is at an all-time low when it comes to manpower," says a civilian employee of the El Paso Police Department. "When we drive around the City, it is rare to see a Police unit anywhere. Still, Jones has said that El Paso is one of the top three Police Departments in the country. Maybe one of the top three in low morale."

"I'm on graves," says an Officer considering a lateral transfer out of El Paso. "The domino effect from days, from Jones, it's taking its toll on everyone. And garbage like this will continue until the people speak up and demand better from Pacillias."

Then there is the "statistic" that Lt. Jones has shared with several officers: Jones believes it's good for officers to come to work when the sun is coming up, as they will be working at peak performance levels. Of course, the statement doesn't make sense to anyone we've spoken to.

There are problems within the El Paso Police Department's command structure. It seems that, and this is me standing on the outside looking in, those incapable of working the streets are promoted into Command positions or become Lieutenants who are given special privileges, such as Lt. Frank L Rodriguez Jr., who will be the subject of our next article. We deserve better.

As an aside to this piece, Lt. Jones has decided that it is better not to focus on correcting the issues we present; rather, his time would be better spent complaining about these articles.

When you face a setback, don't beat yourself up. Don't use that setback as evidence of why things never work out. Don't sulk or feel kicked down. Stop doing that to yourself.

A flat tire can't fix itself. Use your mind to deal with the problem, remove the obstacle, or DRIVE AROUND the setback you are facing. There are a million routes to every destination.

If you've got a flat tire on the road of life, or even in your career, stop making it worse and either fix it or drive on the rim until you can.

It's time the Department fixes its flat tires.