City Manager Sheryl Sculley says she is 'disappointed, appalled and outraged' at lapses in the Special Victims Unit of the San Antonio Police Department, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"We will not rest until we are certain that we know the full extent of any problems and they have been rectified," Sculley said.
She said some 130 cases of sex crimes and family violence reports have fallen through the cracks at the SVU., and were not properly investigated. She says these could include rape and sex trafficking cases.
A lieutenant and two sergeants have already been disciplined and Sculley said more disciplinary actions are expected.
"We are going to deal with situation and we are going to get it corrected," she said.. Sculley says a team from the City Attorney's office will review the Unit and report back with their findings.. She said disciplinary action 'should and will be taken' against those detectives and supervisors who failed in their duties.
Police Chief William McManus said the SAPD itself discovered the failure when it appeared that the SVU had not filed as many cases with the District Attorney as had previously been filed.
He said some of the cases can still lead to arrest and prosecution, but many of them will not be prosecutable.. He says many of the cases have been 'corrected.'
"My humble apologies go out to the victims who's crimes were not prosecuted," McManus said.
He said the failure was the result of 'negligence' and not malicious in nature.. He said 'one detective' in SVU was primarily responsible for the failure.
"The chief brought this to my attention yesterday, and when problems are identified we deal with them," Sculley said..