![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Sheriff_Javier_Salazar_BCSO_09.09.2025_Diego-Medel-2-scaled-1.jpg\")
Sheriff Javier Salazar says that intelligence routinely gathered inside the jail is often shared with outside law enforcement partners and prosecutors. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nThe Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Office is moving forward with an expansion of a jail-based intelligence operation that analyzes inmate communications for investigative leads made possible by a $2.6 million earmark in the federal budget.<\/p>\n
The effort, tentatively called the Law Enforcement and Detention Intelligence Network, or LEAD-IN, would allow the sheriff\u2019s office to purchase software to transcribe, search and analyze inmate phone calls and other jail-linked records at a larger scale \u2014 building on intelligence work that is already underway inside the Bexar County Jail.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the goal is to use technology to amplify their ability to process more information at once.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t make any secret of it, 5,000 inmates is a treasure trove of information on the crimes that got them in the jail, but also other crimes that are ongoing out in the community,\u201d he said. \u201dThey may be discussing drug trafficking rings that they\u2019re still involved in, talking about murders that they know about, or the location of a body that we haven\u2019t found yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheriff Javier Salazar says that intelligence routinely gathered inside the jail is often shared with outside law enforcement partners and prosecutors. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Existing unit, expanded tools<\/p>\n
The proposed expansion would not create a new unit or include any new hires. It would be built around an existing detention intelligence team already doing gang intelligence and investigations work inside the jail.\u00a0That team already monitors inmate phone calls, reviews recordings and develops intelligence related to gang activity, contraband, threats inside the jail and investigations outside of the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sgt. James Ma, who works in the jail intelligence unit, told commissioners during a Feb. 3 presentation that investigators are often faced with a large volume of information tied to each criminal case\u00a0 \u2014 which can include thousands of phone calls, messages and digital records tied to a single investigation.<\/p>\n
The LEAD-IN program, he said, is intended to reduce the time it takes to sort through that material, allowing analysts to identify potential leads more quickly and pass them on to investigators in the field.<\/p>\n
The unit has already seen success using intelligence to disrupt serious criminal activity, said Deputy Chief Angela Freveletti, who oversees the unit, pointing to a recent murder-for-hire plot that was uncovered through inmate communications<\/a> and led to five arrests inside and outside of the jail.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this recent case, one inmate was soliciting other inmates to find people from the outside that could possibly hurt or harm a witness in their case,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2029We were able to get on top of that, put a case together and make arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that LEAD-IN has been designed to build on that kind of work while assisting to close the loop on any information that could be missed due to the grand scale of information that is being reviewed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know how much of this information we\u2019re actually missing because we can only do so much with the things that we have at our disposal,\u201d Freveletti said. \u201cWe\u2019re catching a lot of really good stuff, but how much of it are we catching? Is it a tip of the iceberg type of thing? With the money, we\u2019re able to invest in the latest and greatest software out there and we\u2019re hoping that we\u2019re gonna be able to catch a lot more of these tips.\u201d<\/p>\n While LEAD-IN is centered inside the jail, it is intended to generate investigative leads beyond it. Salazar said information developed through inmate phone calls or jail-linked records is routinely shared with outside law enforcement agencies, including the San Antonio Police Department, the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office and federal partners, when relevant to ongoing cases.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon for the DA\u2019s office, SAPD, Drug Enforcement Agency or anybody to come to us and say, \u2018Hey, you\u2019ve got a certain person in jail, what are they saying? Who are they talking to on the phone? Are they talking about an escape? Are they talking about this murder that happened?\u201d Salazar said. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised what some of these folks will say.\u201d<\/p>\n Freveletti said the technology could also assist investigations involving missing or endangered persons, particularly when time-sensitive digital data must be processed quickly. Thousands of points of data can be retrieved from cellphones and other electronics in missing persons cases, but it can be a time intensive process if you don\u2019t have the right software, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur hope is, especially with the missing persons, that we\u2019re able to mine that data a lot quicker, so that we can locate people quicker,\u201d Freveletti said. \u201cEspecially if they\u2019re in any type of danger or dealing with some type of mental health crisis, the software is going to help us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Commissioners raised questions during the discussion about civil liberties, data ownership and oversight.<\/p>\n Salazar said inmate communications \u2014 excluding attorney-client calls \u2014 are already recorded and monitored, and that inmates are warned of that fact each time they place a call from the jail.<\/p>\n \u201cInmates really have no expectation of privacy on those calls,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cIf you\u2019re talking on the phone, while you\u2019re an inmate in the jail, that\u2019s really on you at that point, because it\u2019s pretty well known that we do this, and even then, we\u2019re still catching stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Salazar and other officials stressed that LEAD-IN would rely on records lawfully obtained by the sheriff\u2019s office and is not intended to monitor civilians or collect information unrelated to criminal investigations. Some tools would require warrants signed by a judge, depending on the type of data involved, while other detention intelligence does not.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing we want to do is violate civil rights,\u201d he said. \u201cAt that point, we\u2019re no better than the crooks we\u2019re trying to put in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BexarCountyCommissionersCourt_SheriffJavierSalazar_01_08.26.2025_DiegoMedel.jpg\")
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar speaks at the Bexar County Courthouse for a county budget work session on Tuesday, Aug. 26 Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n