EXPRESS-NEWS “REPORT” FILLED WITH ERRORS, MOST LIKELY OBTAINED ILLEGALLY
Report’s inaccuracies and delivery and possession raise legal and ethical questions for those involved.
San Antonio, TX – Earlier this year, the Express-News published a story about a police report regarding allegations against Mayoral Candidate Greg Brockhouse. In an April 1, 2019 story, reporter Brian Chasnoff wrote that although City Attorney Andy Segovia said the City had “no responsive documents,” Chasnoff nonetheless said he had “independently obtained a copy” of the 2009 report.
Brian Chasnoff’s possession of such a report raises serious legal and ethical questions about its accuracy and about how and from whom he obtained it. As such, the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association would like answers to the following questions:
- If the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) did not have a copy of the alleged official report published by the Express-News in March 2019, how – and from whom – did their reporter, Brian Chasnoff obtain a copy of the SAPD report?
- During the time frame of this mystery SAPD report, the Department had a full-time staff of sergeants reviewing all reports submitted by SAPD Officers (and still do). This report would have been rejected for its many ERRORS, including: misidentified Penal code offense, wrong case number, wrong physical description of suspect (including that he was 6’2” and had blonde hair and blue eyes), and additional wrong details of surroundings and other circumstances. How does Chasnoff account for the glaring errors in this report?
- If this alleged report was official, it would have a six-digit UCR code from report review, since ALL written reports must be processed with a UCR code. This report does not have one. Where are the proper coding markings? The absence of these code markings can only mean that SAPD records never touched the report. Where is the data code that should be on the report?
- What is SAPD doing to investigate the validity and origins of this produced report that all FOIA requests are unable to find?
“If the Express-News and a source at City Hall are allowed to unethically, and possibly illegally, carry out these kinds of libelous actions then no Citizen’s reputation or privacy is safe,” said Mike Helle, President of the San Antonio Police Officers’ Association.
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