Standridge speaks in Lifelong Learning lecture series

Have you ever wondered exactly what it is that a Chief of Police does? Lifelong Learning SMTX — a nonprofit that provides accessible no-cost to lowcost experiences for San Marcos-area older adults to explore, question, learn and engage with others — provided a unique opportunity to learn from San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge what his job entails and the programs he has implemented in the department since he was brought on in 2020 in addition to a question and answer session with the public.

Standridge was the first in a seven part lecture series that started on Aug. 12 and will continue every Monday (other than Labor Day) until Sept. 30 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the San Marcos Public Library.

Standridge gave insight on the changes he has made to the department since being hired.

“When I got here in late 2020, the department was basically suffering from unaddressed trauma manifest as misconduct,” Standridge said. “The year 2021 was about rebuilding, fixing culture, addressing policies and addressing accountability. 2021 was a whole lot of internal ‘let’s get well.’ 2022 was really when we started to say, … ‘We’re going to focus on crime but not just respond to it. We’re going to work to prevent it.’ So we retooled a lot of things in 2022, one of which was we created a special investigations unit. We created a Special Victims Unit [also].”

Standridge said the SMPD is in the best position it has been in the last 30 years as the current city council has been more willing than previous councils to dedicate resources to bolster the department’s efficiency. He discussed some of the new technology that the department is using during arrests and investigations. He said when the police have a clear image of the suspect they can run it through a program that will check all public platforms including social media. The police can use a Call Data Records search, commonly called a CDR search, of the suspects geolocation to determine where they are. There are also cameras at various locations around the city that scan for license plates.

“We are in the process of building a perimeter electronically of Flock cameras, [which use] license plate recognition. We have cameras on [SH] 80, on [SH] 123, on Wonder World, and we’re in the process of permitting with TxDOT to put them on northbound and southbound I-35,” Standridge said. “We will have an electronic perimeter around San Marcos. It’s only going to be good for the subsequent investigation. It doesn’t prevent crime but helps us investigate.”

Another new tool employed by the department is a Bolawrap that is deployed and constrains the legs and torso and puts the suspect into the seated position.

“If they’re on their tummy and there’s any compromised airway, [they can suffocate, and] it’s called positional asphyxia,” Standridge said. “In other words, they can’t suffocate in the [Bolawrap]. It makes it physically impossible, because it puts them in the right position.”

Standridge said 2023 was the first year that saw a reduction in crime in San Marcos since 2014, and it was reduced by 30%. He is cautious relying on that statistic though.

“Because it could be an anomaly,” Standridge said. “People could have given up. They could have reported less, right? The bonds are no longer there between police and communities, so they’re not reporting as much. That’s a possibility, right? So the actual baseline year should be 2024, not 2023. Is it something that we’re sustaining? Good news, yes. 2024 continues to descend with one exception.”

He said that the “exception” to the decline in crime is motor vehicle theft, which continues to run rampant, not just in San Marcos but across the country.

“We got a grant. Council will, hopefully, affirm a resolution on Aug. 20. It will hire a sworn task force member for motor vehicle theft and crimes,” Standridge said. “We’ll be able to hire a sole detective whose job will be to collaborate regionally to figure out who’s doing it.”

The city council decision on the motor vehicle crimes unit occurred after time of press.

Standridge discussed the mental health unit, which is composed of a corporal supervisor, two officers and an embedded clinician. He said that is not large enough to meet the needs of the city, but adding additional clinicians to the department is costly. His solution has been to train SMPD officers on how to respond during a mental health crisis. He said currently there are 24 cops trained as Mental Health Peace Officers, 45 that have had Crisis Intervention Training and 59 that have taken the abbreviated CIT course.

(Editor’s Note: This discussion took place before a Grand Jury declined to indict an SMPD officer in the officer involved shooting that resulted in the death of Malachi Williams. The body camera footage from the event has also since been released.)

Standridge explained the new Crisis Communications Policy, and specifically addressed why bodyworn camera footage in officer-involved shootings will not be released before an investigation into the officer involved has come to a conclusion. He discussed state statute and said that the law states that the video footage should not be released during an ongoing investigation unless it serves a law enforcement purpose such as to help identify a suspect. Standridge pointed to the Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins as another reason that officer-worn camera footage would not be released to the public until the conclusion of the investigation.

“It is in my best interest to release everything, because then you don’t beat me up,” Standridge said. “[Higgins said], ‘If you release it, we will have people coming forward who claim to know things, who don’t know anything, who will supplant testimony, who will fabricate testimony.’” Standridge brought up the 12-person grand jury who would decide a case in an officer-involved shooting.

“[Higgins said], ‘If you release the video, you just tainted my 12 jurors. Because they see the video, [and] now they have this preconceived idea of what happened, which they have to, by law, disclose. And you may have just nullified a juror who may have been impaneled for the last six weeks. Now they can’t hear that case,’” Standridge said. “Kelly’s like, ‘I can’t do that. I have a hard enough time impaneling jurors.’ So the last thing he wants to do is disqualify somebody because Stan went out there and shared something he probably shouldn’t have shared before an impartial body of 12 community members hear and see the evidence submitted.”

There is a publicly available email to Standridge from Higgins detailing why he thinks body-worn camera footage, particularly of an officer-involved shooting, should not be released before the conclusion of the case against the officer. That email has also been attached to the Crisis Communications Policy.

“The grand jury process can only function properly if it is free from public and political pressure. It also requires that the investigation into the matter is complete, is based on facts and evidence, and is free from outside interference,” Higgins wrote. “Officer-involved shootings can sometimes result in a strong public reaction. We have seen examples from across the United States where some people are willing to engage in conduct that may disrupt an investigation or further inflame public opinion. Because we consider all such shootings, as well as other serious allegations of excessive force, to be an active grand jury investigation, it is imperative that the investigation be completed without interference. A public release of any video of a shooting while the investigation is ongoing would interfere with the investigation and the grand jury process in a variety of ways.”

Higgins said the ways that public release of body-worn camera footage could impact the investigation are that it “creates an unreasonable risk that witnesses will alter their testimony to match what they saw on the video as opposed to what they personally observed,” “may cause additional people to come forward dishonestly claiming to have witnessed the incident in hopes of improperly influencing the decision of the grand jury,” “may cause members of the grand jury to pre-judge the case and form opinions that they are unable to set aside before they have been presented with all evidence and all relevant law” and “can ‘taint’ the jury pool by causing potential jurors to pre-judge the case.”

Standridge said that he doesn’t have to heed Higgins advice but a good working relationship between the DA and the police department is critical.

“Everything that my department does that they want prosecuted they have to give to the DA,” Standridge said. “To that extent, he has a remarkable amount of informal power, because he can just refuse to hear your cases, which then you are no longer served. So there really has to be somewhat of a relationship between him and I. That’s what we’re trying to preserve.”

Stephanie Korcheck, a member of the Chiefs Advisory Panel, said that the panel has ten citizen members and four department members, which give Standridge advice “whether he wants it or not.” Korcheck believes the footage should be released after a certain amount of time into the investigation but noted the policy does allow the family and its attorneys to view the footage after 30 days.

“It should be released, in my opinion, because to not do so is creating tremendous schisms within our community. But as the Chief said, this is largely driven by the DA ‘s office,” Korcheck said. “We argue in this group, and not all of us come away satisfied with what we think should happen. But just the fact that as citizens, we have a forum to provide this input, I think is really critical, and we’re working on procedures now for the cit- izen members of this committee to be more present in the community to hear what’s bugging you and bring it back to the Chief.”

One can register at the San Marcos Public Library for the remainder of the lecture series by calling 512393-8200. On Aug. 19, Kellie Donajkowski, Texas State University Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center education program manager, taught about animals in the Edwards Aquifer. On Aug. 26, Dr. Joseph Laycock, TXST Religious Studies associate professor, will discuss what is and isn’t a cult using the MAGA movement as an example of something that is not a cult but a “nativist millennialist” movement. On Sept. 9, Amber Hinsley, TXST Journalism and Mass Communication associate professor, will teach how to be a savvy social media user, including the pros and cons of various social media platforms and how to determine the credibility of online information. On Sept. 16, Dr. Sophia Mavroudas, TXST Forensic Anthropology Center associate director, will discuss contributions of the science of human decomposition. On Sept. 23, Dr. Angela Black, pediatrician, will discuss nutrition and healthy eating habits. On Sept. 30, Dr. Robert Mace, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment executive director, will discuss hydrology, or distribution of water, in central Texas from the rain to the aquifers as well as the need for conservation.