OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

San Antonio Public Safety Committee Meeting - March 17, 2026

Council Committees — Tuesday, March 17, 2026
BodySan Antonio, Texas
SessionCouncil Committees
DateTuesday, March 17, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:12:59

Transcript — Verbatim
0:07

All right, good afternoon.

0:09

The time is now 2 34 p.m.

0:10

and we'll call public safety committee meeting to order.

0:12

Madam Clerk, could you please call roll?

0:15

Councilmember McKee Rodriguez.

0:17

Councilmember Castillo?

0:18

Here.

0:18

Councilmember Spears.

0:20

In Taiwan.

0:21

Councilmember White?

0:24

Councilmember, I'm sorry, Chair Corps.

0:26

Here.

0:26

Um Chair, we have a quorum.

0:28

Okay, great.

0:29

So we have several items on the agenda today, but let's take a minute approval of the minutes first.

0:33

Does anybody have any changes to make?

0:35

If not, I'll take a motion.

0:38

We have a motion and a second.

0:40

All in favor?

0:41

Any opposed?

0:43

Oh, yes, you were not.

0:45

Any opposed?

0:46

Any abstentions?

0:47

Yes.

0:48

All right.

0:49

Uh motion.

0:50

Does that yeah?

0:51

It'll carry three zero one.

0:53

Um welcome, Councilmember White to Public Safety Committee.

0:57

Thank you.

1:02

All right.

1:02

Uh the first the second item on the agenda is our fire department performance metrics.

1:08

So, Councilmember White, for your edification.

1:11

What we um do is we do a memorandum of statistics every meeting that just shows a different department and several metrics that they're tracking, and then we'll do a deep dive the following meeting depending upon what folks say is of interest to them.

1:26

So this first one, um, well, for your first one is fire department, and we also know that Councilmember McKee Rodriguez has requested uh fire needs assessment, and the update I just received was that we should be hiring a consultant for that at the end of the month.

1:40

So um, I'm sure you'd like if you want to comment on that when it comes up.

1:43

But I would like Chief or Maria to give a little bit of an overview.

1:47

Sure.

1:48

So I'm gonna ask Chief Frasto to do a quick overview of the statistics so you all can select the ones that you want to look into a little bit more.

1:55

And I just want to add on the uh fire department needs assessment, the proposal is set on the street at closest at the end of this month.

2:03

So we're gonna bring it to council for approval, probably by the end of April or early May.

2:09

Um, so we can hope have some recommendations related to staffing by the budget process.

2:23

Um today I will briefly walk through the fire department's operational activity over the past couple of fiscal years and where we are at so far uh this year.

2:35

As far as incident activity, um, as you'll see on the screen, the in fiscal year 2024, SAFD responded to about 247,070 incidents, and in fiscal 2025, that increased slightly to 253,322 incidents, which is about a two and a half percent increase overall.

3:00

So uh as you can see, emergency medical responses continue to make up most of our workload, um, accounting for roughly 78 percent of total incidents, which is consistent with national trends with urban fire departments through the end of February this fiscal year.

3:19

The department has already responded to more than 102,000 incidents.

3:24

So I've also provided an overview of unit responses, which is on the uh page two of the memo.

3:33

And um so far this fiscal year we've already recorded over 166,000 unit responses, which keeps us on pace with prior years.

3:46

I've also included the incident activity by district, and when we look at activity across the city, districts one, two, and five continue to see the highest call volumes, and that's largely due to high population density, uh the older infrastructure, and obviously the the commercial um activity that is very dense in that area as well.

4:11

Moving on to the next page of the memo is the busiest fire stations.

4:16

Um break these out between single and double companies, but uh this time we we listed the top 10.

4:24

Uh most of those as you can see are double company fire stations.

4:29

Um overall, the busiest stations continue to be um fire station 32, 35, and 29, 37, and 44.

4:41

Um again, these these stations, double companies, very high uh population density, and they're uh very um high EMS demand and population.

4:55

So next item the uh call types.

5:00

Um when we look at call types respond to for non-medical calls, the most common responses include fire alarms, lift assists, smoke investigations, and and brush fires, and for medical incidents, the most frequent calls include sick person, uh vehicle collisions, falls, breathing problems, and chest pain.

5:24

So these have remained consistent year over year.

5:30

The next item is uh on the next page of the memo is structure fire activity.

5:38

And in uh fiscal year 2025, the department responded to just under 1200 structure fires.

5:45

Most of those occurred in single family homes, followed by multifamily residential, and then next would be commercial properties.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Public Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████61%
Public Engagement█████████12%
Animal Welfare███████10%
Data Analysis█████7%
Community Engagement████5%
Procedural██3%
Budget█2%
Summary of Proceedings

San Antonio Public Safety Committee Meeting - March 17, 2026

The Public Safety Committee convened on March 17, 2026, at 2:34 PM and adjourned at 3:46 PM. The meeting covered fire department performance metrics, an update on the violent crime reduction plan, and an Animal Care Services (ACS) report. Due to a hard quorum cutoff, the fifth agenda item was not reached.

Consent Calendar

  • The minutes from the previous meeting were approved by a vote of 3-0-1 (three in favor, zero opposed, one abstention).

Discussion Items

  • Fire Department Performance Metrics: Chief Frasto presented operational statistics. In FY2024, SAFD responded to 247,070 incidents; in FY2025, that increased by 2.5% to 253,322 incidents. Emergency medical responses accounted for 78% of total incidents. Through February 2026, the department had already responded to over 102,000 incidents. Districts 1, 2, and 5 had the highest call volumes. The busiest fire stations were 32, 35, 29, 37, and 44. The department responded to just under 1,200 structure fires in FY2025, mostly in single-family homes. The Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) program made over 8,000 contacts through February 2026, and the Fire Prevention Division conducted nearly 24,000 inspections. Council members requested additional data: district-level breakdowns of call types, trends since 2019, response time benchmarks, cause of structural fires (including vacancy status), and analysis of program investments. The Fire Needs Assessment consultant is expected to be hired by end of March, with council approval in April/May.

  • Violent Crime Reduction Plan Update: Dr. Smith of UTSA presented the third annual evaluation of the San Antonio Violent Crime Reduction Plan. The plan has three strategies: hot spots policing, problem-oriented place-based policing, and focused deterrence (Phase 3 not yet started). Over the life of the plan (three years), violent street crime (murder, robbery, aggravated assault) decreased by approximately 9.5–10%. In 2025 alone, violent street crime dropped 21% compared to 2024, with murder down 18%, robbery 17%, aggravated assault 20%, and deadly conduct 32%. Reductions occurred in all police substations. In the 30–35 hot spot grids treated every 60 days, violent crime fell 63.2%. Offender-focused treatment areas saw an 83% reduction, and high-visibility treatment areas saw a 52% reduction. A differences-in-differences analysis showed a 44% reduction in treated grids relative to untreated controls. The treatment effect persisted for about one month after police resources moved. Phase 3 (focused deterrence) will target repeat violent offenders with a “carrot and stick” approach, partnering with a nonprofit for social services (e.g., trauma counseling, substance abuse treatment, job training, housing). The RFP for the nonprofit partner closed in January; scoring is underway, with council recommendations on May 7 and contracts starting June 1. Phase 3 is expected to begin in Q4 2026. Council members discussed the balance between enforcement and addressing root causes, funding for Phase 3, and the need to expand Phase 2 to more properties. Dr. Smith noted that hotspot policing is a short-term “fever reducer” and must be complemented by longer-term strategies.

  • Animal Care Services Update: John presented ACS performance data. The department receives about 90,000 calls annually, with approximately 60% classified as critical calls. The critical call response rate is just under 95%. The dangerous dog compliance rate goal is 80%; the department achieved 82% last year but recently dropped to 74.8% due to vacancies. Two vacancies have been filled, and cross-training has boosted compliance back toward 80%. Cruelty cases are on pace to double in FY2026. The definition of severe bite was refined in December 2024, making comparisons not apples-to-apples. ACS has 245 total positions, with 69 for response. Currently there are four vacancies. The next academy starts April 7, adding seven first-response cadets, two dangerous dog officers, and one cruelty investigator. Municipal court data showed over 12,000 filings in FY2025, with the majority filed criminally. The judge explained the process for dismissals and that fines consider ability to pay. Councilmember Castillo emphasized the need for continued investment in ACS and community engagement.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee approved the previous meeting minutes (3-0-1).
  • The Fire Department will provide district-level data breakdowns, trend analysis, response time benchmarks, and structural fire cause data at the next meeting.
  • The Violent Crime Reduction Plan Phase 3 timeline was outlined: nonprofit partner selection by May 7, contracts by June 1, implementation expected in Q4 2026. Staff will explore expanding Phase 2 to more properties and report back.
  • The ACS academy is scheduled for April 7, filling vacant positions in first response, dangerous dog, and cruelty investigations.
  • The fifth agenda item was not reached due to loss of quorum at 3:45 PM.

Meeting Transcript

All right, good afternoon. The time is now 2 34 p.m. and we'll call public safety committee meeting to order. Madam Clerk, could you please call roll? Councilmember McKee Rodriguez. Councilmember Castillo? Here. Councilmember Spears. In Taiwan. Councilmember White? Councilmember, I'm sorry, Chair Corps. Here. Um Chair, we have a quorum. Okay, great. So we have several items on the agenda today, but let's take a minute approval of the minutes first. Does anybody have any changes to make? If not, I'll take a motion. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed? Oh, yes, you were not. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Yes. All right. Uh motion. Does that yeah? It'll carry three zero one. Um welcome, Councilmember White to Public Safety Committee. Thank you. All right. Uh the first the second item on the agenda is our fire department performance metrics. So, Councilmember White, for your edification. What we um do is we do a memorandum of statistics every meeting that just shows a different department and several metrics that they're tracking, and then we'll do a deep dive the following meeting depending upon what folks say is of interest to them. So this first one, um, well, for your first one is fire department, and we also know that Councilmember McKee Rodriguez has requested uh fire needs assessment, and the update I just received was that we should be hiring a consultant for that at the end of the month. So um, I'm sure you'd like if you want to comment on that when it comes up. But I would like Chief or Maria to give a little bit of an overview. Sure. So I'm gonna ask Chief Frasto to do a quick overview of the statistics so you all can select the ones that you want to look into a little bit more. And I just want to add on the uh fire department needs assessment, the proposal is set on the street at closest at the end of this month. So we're gonna bring it to council for approval, probably by the end of April or early May. Um, so we can hope have some recommendations related to staffing by the budget process. Um today I will briefly walk through the fire department's operational activity over the past couple of fiscal years and where we are at so far uh this year. As far as incident activity, um, as you'll see on the screen, the in fiscal year 2024, SAFD responded to about 247,070 incidents, and in fiscal 2025, that increased slightly to 253,322 incidents, which is about a two and a half percent increase overall. So uh as you can see, emergency medical responses continue to make up most of our workload, um, accounting for roughly 78 percent of total incidents, which is consistent with national trends with urban fire departments through the end of February this fiscal year. The department has already responded to more than 102,000 incidents. So I've also provided an overview of unit responses, which is on the uh page two of the memo. And um so far this fiscal year we've already recorded over 166,000 unit responses, which keeps us on pace with prior years. I've also included the incident activity by district, and when we look at activity across the city, districts one, two, and five continue to see the highest call volumes, and that's largely due to high population density, uh the older infrastructure, and obviously the the commercial um activity that is very dense in that area as well. Moving on to the next page of the memo is the busiest fire stations.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com