The overview
Speakers at the event included Jesus Saenz, director of airports; Erik Walsh, city manager; María Villagómez, deputy city manager; William McManus, San Antonio Police Department chief; District 9 council member Misty Spears and Tommy Johnson, TSA Federal Security director.
Walsh said the opening of the new Public Safety Building is a necessary step before the city can open the new terminal.
“This is about providing the facility that we need, that our employees need, that the airport needs, and is appropriate and we can grow into it,” Walsh said. “And secondly, about making the necessary chess moves to be able to expand the terminal in the airport."
McManus praised the city’s commitment to providing the police department with an updated airport headquarters.
“Most officers go through their entire career, whether it's 20 years or 30 years or 35 years, and never, ever see a new facility for them. And here in San Antonio, ... this is my fourth department,” McManus said. “I've seen more new facilities, police facilities here in my tenure here than I have in the other three."
Spears emphasized the importance of supporting law enforcement and how the new building demonstrates the city’s commitment to public safety.
"We have to support our law enforcement, and this is the testament of how important they are to our community, to District 9, to the airport,” Spears said.
The details
During a tour of the interior of the building, Lt. Andres Lopez, San Antonio Airport Police Department training and support, said the new building is night and day compared to their previous headquarters.
Lopez said the new location provides them with a central location from which to provide services to the SA Airport.
“This new building has been about a two-year process with the terminal development project for aviation,” Lopez said. “As you know, our old building is going to be demolished to make room for the new terminal. So it was vital for us to get a new location that is centrally located for us to still provide important police services at the airport police provide every day.”
The new building is a police substation that houses the SA Airport police’s patrol section, bike section, admin command section and its explosive detection canine teams, which consist of police and TSA units. A total of 43 officers will respond from the new substation, with San Antonio police units filling 13 vacancies. The Public Safety Building also includes dog kennels, training equipment, a gym and offices.
“This building is very important ... not only [for] those citizens and [the] community that we serve here in San Antonio, but for the visitors worldwide that come in here—10 to 11 to 12 million a year —[and] that [number is] only going to grow as the new [terminal development] project continues,” Lopez said. “We were fortunate enough to get this building first to be able to establish what's needed not just now, but in the future.”
Looking ahead
The next major opening for the terminal development project is the ground load facility, which will open in approximately 60-70 days.
- Opened in early September
- 457 Sandau Road, San Antonio
- www.sanantonio.gov/Airport-Police
