SAN ANTONIO — The City of San Antonio wants more police officers in the community preventing crime than responding to it.
To accomplish this goal, the city has been rolling out the "Violent Crime Reduction Plan," a three-phased public safety blueprint. Phase one began in 2023 and added officers to hot spots across city. Phase two, the current stage, identifies a location and tackles the root causes of crime.
"Addressing housing and food and stability, education and employment opportunities and resources for counseling, for mental and physical health services—all these things can help to improve the quality of life for residents and can help us to address these more serious crime issues," said Maria Vargas with the City of San Antonio's Office of Integrated Community Safety.
The city evaluated five locations and chose Rosemont at Highland Park Apartments on Rigsby Avenue as the first location to initiate phase two.
"It's based on the the calls for service, the number of offense reports taken at that location," said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. "I don't know that it's realistic to think that you can say anywhere will have no violent crime. That can happen anytime, anywhere, randomly. But we do hope to reduce it significantly."
On Thursday, City Council approved $420,000 to install cameras as well as provide spay and neuter services through ACS at the Rosemont at Highland Park Apartments.
"They (security cameras) serve as a deterrent effect," McManus said. "In this particular case, it's similar to the ones you might see on a construction site, (as opposed to) a telescopic telescoping boom with a camera on the top. We have the ability to go back in there and pull video from those cameras if there's an incident. It helps us in our investigation."
Charles Macintosh has lived in the apartment complex since 2019 and hopes it makes a difference.
“I have to feel safe wherever I am, but I trust God to take care of me," she said. "(I've seen police) pretty much like every other day. I've been robbed five times myself. I've had a lady take $800 from me that lives here."
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is happy the issue is being addressed in his district.
"This investment and this priority to really address and to focus on the root causes of crime in the community, we're getting that first on the east side. That's great news," he said. "I'm happy that we're our priority. It's for good reason and a part of that equity lens."
Phase two of the Violent Crime Reduction Plan is set to go through December. The city will revaluate in January whether or not it's effective.