Anthony Trevino, or Tony as he's known, has been named as interim police chief by City Manager Sheryl Sculley. He starts his new assignment Jan. 1.
Trevino is a veteran member of the San Antonio Police Department, and most recently has served as Deputy Chief, and outgoing Police Chief William McManus' chief of staff.
Rarely can anyone find McManus at City Hall or at a crime scene without Trevino somewhere nearby. He's soft-spoken and doesn't attract much attention. That's one of the main differences he sees as he transitions from a behind the scenes staff member.
"It's going to be an adjustment but it's an adjustment I honestly look forward to and I've had a great mentor in Chief McManus so even though I may have been in the background, I've been carefully watching what he's been doing," said Trevino shortly after Sculley made the announcement.
Like McManus, Trevino sees community policing as a partnership with the people of San Antonio. He referenced the department's SAFFE Unit, which stands for San Antonio Fear Free Environment. The unit was established in the mid-90s to identify and resolve community crime problems alongside neighborhood residents.
"I think that we have a distinct advantage [because] our SAFFE Unit... does a lot of community engagement," he said. "But one of the things that we're emphasizing as an organization to our line level officer all the way up throughout the organization is that community involvement isn't only a unit type task, it's something that every officer needs to be concerned with because those individual relationships that we have with members of the community are what prevents a Ferguson-type situation and so that's something that we need to diligently work on day in, day out."
Trevino plans to seek the chief position permanently but he said Sculley wants to have the new mayor in place first, in order to vet the candidates with the full council after the municipal elections in May.
Trevino is a current member of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, which he will resign from to serve as chief.
