Petition to end police collective bargaining reaches San Antonio city hall

BEXAR COUNTY (KTSA News) — Signatures for a petition to remove collective bargaining rights for San Antonio police officers have been delivered to San Antonio City Hall.

The City of San Antonio said it received the signatures from FixSAPD Friday, which will begin a 20 business day period where the city clerk’s office will work to verify the signatures.

If there are a sufficient number of verified signatures, it will move on to the San Antonio City Council, which will consider it for placement on the May city elections ballot.  If there are not enough verified signatures, the organization will be informed about the deficiencies.

Leadership of the police union claims fraud was used to gather the 20,000 signatures to city hall.

“We believe that a great number of these signatures have been collected fraudulently and under false pretenses,” San Antonio Police Officers Association President Michael Helle said in a statement. “We have received several credible reports from citizens, including reports that have been filed with SAPD, that [FixSAPD] has been misrepresenting themselves as being from or with the San Antonio Police Department.  We have also had reports of petitioners physically challenging residents who refuse to sign.”

Helle said there have also been reports that petitioners lied to people about the true purpose of the petition and that they have the endorsement of San Antonio police chief William McManus.

Helle’s successor, Danny Diaz, and McManus addressed the petition drive earlier this week, voicing their concerns with the way the group has operated.

FixSAPD disputes those claims.