SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County on Saturday unveiled its second Sheriff's Office Substation, which officials say will reduce response times and serve as a place for community gatherings.
The substation, located at 6825 Cagnon Road, is the second substation built from the ground up. Sheriff Javier Salazar said that 150 deputies, detectives and community policing officers will operate out of the Southwest Side substation.
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"These substations allow us to spread our manpower more evenly, and it's going to absolutely help with response times," Salazar said.
Salazar said in some cases, it would take deputies as long as an hour to drive across town to respond to certain calls.
Through the years, the Sheriff's Office has been housed in old schools, condemned buildings and portable buildings. Precinct 1 Commissioner Segio "Chico" Rodriguez said that the new county-owned facilities will be a morale boost for law enforcement officers and a place where members of the community can meet.
"We're growing in leaps and bounds. It's tremendous," Rodriguez said. "This area is probably the fastest-growing area (in Bexar County)."
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said the substation is conveniently located in an area where several new houses are being built, putting the Sheriff's Office closer to the people they serve.
"(This substation is) saving time for (deputies), getting them closer to constituencies we serve," Wolff said. "I think this is a big step forward for this side of town."
Rodriguez said that the county was able to save money on the multimillion-dollar project by building the substation on county-owned land.
The new substations eliminate the need to rent or lease buildings to house the Sheriff's Office.