SAN ANTONIO — Monday, February 1 marked the first official day of John ' Danny' Diaz's new job as the San Antonio Police Officers Association president. The union confirmed him as their new leader on December 17.
An hour after his win, he called San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
"We can get a lot more things done together than we can as adversaries," Diaz said.
The 53-year-old said he met with the chief and city manager Erik Walsh to make them aware of SAPOA's direction.
Diaz said he and Walsh had a decent conversation about working together mutually.
"Let's face it. That hasn't been done in a while," he said.
Relationships with the city and the police chief became the new president's first move.
In January, McManus and Diaz appeared together in a joint news conference outside of San Antonio Public Safety Headquarters to denounce out-state-operatives "...trying to divide to our city."
The united front of SAPOA and McManus is rare. Both warned against activists seeking to reform SAPD dishonestly. The group in question denied the allegations and maintained San Antonio wanted change.
"We understand reform," Diaz said. "We get that push. We understand it's coming."
He said the change would come at the bargaining table. But activists may have a different idea. FixSAPD is working hard to put police accountability on the May 2021 ballot.
"The citizens have only heard one side of the argument," Diaz said. "My intent is to educate the community as much as possible."
Collective bargaining is the union's most colossal issue. Nearly 2,500 officers hope to find a median in the atmosphere where change is under demand.
Communication is going to be key, Diaz said. According to the 29-year-veteran of SAPD, police have tremendous support too. That's why Diaz wants his members to raise their community profile to allow citizens to see the good officers do.
He believes procedural misunderstandings may be driving part of the argument for change. McManus said in city council meetings and gatherings in the San Antonio area that it's hard to fire bad cops.
Diaz said SAPOA does not cosign on bad behavior. But the officers believe in arbitration. That's where many believe the problem with dismissal exists.
"It's not that they win their job back through arbitration," he said. "Officers who get back because they've come into an agreement with the chief on a second chance agreement."
Officers also face scrutiny for shooting men of color on service calls, especially African-American men.
"One of the things that keeps getting brought up to me is the fear factor between police and African-Americans? Or how do we get to the point where we can crack those barriers?" he said. "Both sides have a lot of work to do."
He has worked patrol out of SAPD's South Substation, the Street Crimes Unit, and SWAT. One of four officers executing a drug warrant on Veterans Day 2010, Diaz was shot three times.
"My mind was all over the place," he said. "The fear came in."
As he thought about his children and fiance, he said his body grew cold.
"You know, you watch a movie they always said when you get cold, you ain't coming back," he said.
The shooting left its scars. But it was a situation where Diaz learned from both sides of the gun.
"I've had to use my weapon---you're talking three or four times," he said. "Been shot at like two or three dozen times. yeah, there's been some close calls."
Diaz said he's willing to talk to anyone about making officers better and serving San Antonio greater. But he said people have to realize the standard for officers is already high.
"Look, a policeman has to be a counselor, has to be a social worker, a policeman, a marriage counselor, a child counselor," he said. "There's a lot of thing you're asking this officer to do."