A special operation by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office to have extra patrols around the Chris Brown and Usher concert at the Sun Bowlappears to have been nixed after overtime concerns.
The "R&B Tour" concert by music superstars Usher Raymond and Chris Brown will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at Sun Bowl Stadium.
El Paso County commissioners now require Sheriff Oscar Ugarte to get their approval for any preplanned special operations involving overtime in the new fiscal year, which began Thursday, Oct. 1.
The sheriff is scheduled to present at the Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, Oct. 5, to seek preapproval for budget transfers to cover overtime for preplanned operations on Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July and DWI operations in fiscal
year 2027.
Normal day-to-day overtime in patrol operations will remain the same, Ugarte said at the commissioners' meeting on Monday, Sept. 28.
The new requirement follows scrutiny of the projected fiscal year-end deficit for the Sheriff's Office, which remains at $5.9 million, according to County Budget Director Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria's weekly update on Monday, Sept. 28.
The deficit is because of costs incurred from jail-related overtime, food expenses for feeding inmates and other expenditures, county officials have said.
Concert patrols began with BTS in El Paso
The idea for extra patrols by deputies near large concerts began with the BTS concerts at the Sun Bowl, at the request of county commissioners, so tourists who came to El Paso would feel safe, Ugarte said at the meeting.
El Paso County Commissioners Court declared May 2-3 as "BTS Weekend in El Paso County" for two concerts attended by 48,000 people each for the South Korean boy band, a global K-pop phenomenon.
Ugarte asked for approval at Monday's meeting to assign deputies to extra-patrol duties near the Sun Bowl at the University of Texas at El Paso, as they had done for other stadium concerts.
The operation would have cost $7,000 for 10 units, including two sergeants and a lieutenant, on 8-10 hour shifts, Ugarte said.
Deputies would be outside the venue enforcing traffic, patrolling the UTEP area before and during the show, and covering major streets afterward, Ugarte said. The deputies would also assist the El Paso Police Department, UTEP Police Department and other agencies.
"The goal of these operations is not to take people to jail, right. It's for the community to see these units," Ugarte told commissioners. "It's a deterrence even before they go into the concert (because) they see all these units in the area. They think twice."
Are concert operations necessary?
Commissioners said they could not vote to approve the $7,000 cost for the latest concert operation because it was not on the agenda and it was too late to add it to the agenda for a special meeting on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Commissioners also expressed skepticism about whether deputies needed to act as a deterrent outside a concert where other law enforcement is already present.
"I don't know that adding additional patrols for a concert rises to the same level of urgency as other operations that you might need," Commissioner Jackie Butler told Ugarte. "So, I think we need to be careful and selective of what we do approve, knowing that we don't have enough funds for overtime."
Commissioners Iliana Holguin and Sergio Coronado said they also had questions about the operation. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Commissioner David Stout were not present when Ugarte came before the court.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Overtime concerns cancel sheriff patrols for Usher, Chris Brown concert
