San Antonio police spent tens of thousands of dollars on a SWAT trip to Dubai in February

Members of the San Antonio SWAT team participated in a police competition in Dubai in February. Human rights activists and police reformers claimed the event offered officers a dangerous opportunity to learn from experienced human rights violators.

When TPR first reported on the San Antonio Police Department’s participation in the competition, the SAPD said Dubai Police covered the officers’ travel and lodging expenses. However, the agency did not disclose whether the officers took personal leave or how much the agency paid them during the trip.

New records obtained through freedom of information requests show that SAPD granted the officers administrative leave while they were in Dubai and paid them a total of up to $27,717.84, TPR estimates.

The SAPD and NYPD were the only two U.S. law enforcement agencies to send officers to the United Arab Emirates SWAT Challenge, the stated goal of which was to promote the exchange of tactical techniques and skills among the 73 participating law enforcement agencies.

Several of these agencies operate in countries where the U.S. State Department has identified serious human and civil rights violations, including China, Russia, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.

Ananda Tomas, executive director of police reform group ACT4SA, who has criticized SAPD’s involvement in the SWAT competition, said the situation was made worse by the use of taxpayer money.

“Not only did we participate in SWAT games this week with police departments that have been accused of human rights violations, but taxpayers’ money was also spent on this,” said Tomas.

Each of the eight officers received 72 hours of administrative leave, from January 30 to February 2 and then from February 5 to February 9. The competition itself began on February 1 and ended on February 5.

Ariel Dulitzky, director of the UT Austin School of Law’s Human Rights Clinic and a professor of clinical medicine, said the fact that officers did not have to take personal leave to attend the event underpins criticism of the department’s decision to officially sanction the competition.

“If (SAPD) continued to pay their salary, that means it was likely viewed as an official activity of the officers and not a personal trip. … The department certainly did not feel the need to officially separate this from the individual officers’ participation,” he said.

Open records

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San Antonio Police Department

SAPD SWAT officers have a base salary ranging from $77,676.04 to $100,092.20, according to SAPD records. Given their total 576 hours of paid administrative leave, this means the officers earned between $21,510.29 and $27,717.84 during their competition in Dubai.

Tomas said spending tens of thousands of taxpayers’ money to allow officers to participate in an event like the UAE SWAT Challenge was evidence that the police department’s budget was far larger than necessary.

“When people call for more money for police officers or public safety, they’re not thinking about traveling to Dubai to compete with organizations that are known to violate human rights. They’re thinking about more services, more parking cops, more of whatever they want them to do and that directly helps their community,” she said.

In a statement, the SAPD said it could not confirm the amount paid to officers and declined to comment further.