Houston Mounted Police Commander Boasts Of Protecting NRA-Silent On Right Wing Threats

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The head of Houston's mounted patrol unit testified before Houston City Council's Public Safety & Homeland Security​ Committee last week. It was the regular monthly committee session. The unit is run by a Commander Ryan Watson. He said Houston's mounted patrol is the largest in the world. 

The hearing was a whole lot of copaganda. Here is the presentation the mounted patrol made to the committee.  Above is a slide from the presentation. Here is the video the full public safety committee hearing. 

The "2020 Civil Unrest" they mean were the demonstrations after the police murder of George Floyd. Nearly all of the arrests in Houston from the Floyd protests were dismissed by District Attorney Kim Ogg. (Also noteworthy was the apathy of local elected Democrats over the unnecessary mass arrests at the Floyd protests.)
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The slide above leaves out a lot of times they've deployed the horses. I can't recall the exact date, but sometime maybe in 2018 I got roped into organizing a rally at Houston City Hall calling on all public officials to support release of the Mueller Report. We had maybe 50 folks. There had to be at least ten horse units at the event. It was just so silly and a waste of money. If we were the town radicals, the city was safe. 

This is on the mounted patrol's website:

"Although a mounted officer on horseback may be intimidating while in crowd control situations the general public sees him/her as very approachable."

Sure. Commander Watson boasted in the committee session about how the mounted patrol stopped protestors from getting into the Brown Convention Center during the National Rifle Convention in May, 2022. I was at that protest. There were a zillion cops and miles of barricades. Nobody was storming the convention center no matter if the horses were there or not. And the idea that protesters are somehow a bigger threat than the National Rifle Association is just a crazy value system for a public official to have. 

​The main threat to of political violence to Houston and Texas is the extreme right wing--Meaning the extreme right wing currently in control of our mainstream political system. We need protection from Donald Trump and Elon Musk rather than from folks outside the convention center with signs.

​Last March, I attended a presentation of the Special Response Group (SRG) of the Houston Police Department. It was part of a know your local police type monthly meeting series. SRG are the officers that monitor and respond to protests.

​The SRG website says this-- 

"The SRG is involved with all protests, demonstrations, rallies, and mass gatherings. They are equipped and prepared to handle any type of situation. The goal of the SRG is to be prepared for any situation and influence a peaceful ending."

The upshot of the talk was that the SRG folks see protestors as a hassle, don't overly care what you are protesting unless it's seen as anti-police, view protection of property at the least as important--quite possibly more so--as the safety of protestors & are mindful of the First Amendment to some degree.        

​Below is a slide from SRG from presentation. Protestors are people to call the police about, to coordinate with your security about, to not get into a fight with, to make certain you share all the information you have with police. They are by definition outsiders, troublemakers, reasons to call security.

It's important to recall that police unions often support authoritarians and election deniers. They make the conscious choice to do this. They could choose otherwise. 

Our rights and our futures are on the line. It's important to understand in advance that police won't be our allies. They'll respect our rights to a degree. Every officer is an individual with his or own views. They are not inherently good or bad people. They'll follow orders. They'll serve whoever they feel has the most power and will make certain to protect their jobs and benefits. 

When you think it is someone other than you being hassled or arrested, it's you next. Our rights and freedom are up to each of us to protect. It's up to us to demand our elected officials join the fight.

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​

Here is a fundraising pitch for Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​​​

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