How Could HPD Dump Cases For So Long & Nobody Speak Up?

The commission appointed by Mayor Whitmire to investigate the wrongful use of a "suspended-lack of personnel" code presented an interim report to Houston City Council last week.

The discussion begins at the 1 hour 46 minute point of the May 15 Council session.

From the Houston Landing:

The Houston Police Department doesn’t use a consistent, agency-wide system for managing and classifying criminal cases, a shortcoming that increases the likelihood of cases getting lost in the system, according to a preliminary report issued by an independent review panel Wednesday....The committee authors also found shortcomings with protocols in the Special Victims division, which investigates sex crimes. For example, the authors noted that crime victims were expected to schedule a forensic interview with police only during business hours during the work week...“The identified criticisms largely stem from the overwhelming volume of incident reports and limited time and resources available for resolution,” the report reads. “Addressing these concerns requires substantial resources, technology, personnel, and infrastructure investment. However, the crux lies in consistently managing operational issues across the board, ensuring that the objectives outlined in this assessment are implemented administratively and unilaterally.”

Mayor Whitmire made a sharp comment about this issue. 

From the Houston Chronicle:    

​“I still find it so mind-boggling and unacceptable that for 10 years, no stakeholder, no active officers, no employees, no administration, no one brought this to our attention,” Whitmire said.

How can it be that this went on for so long with such a lack of care and concern & with such serious crimes involved? Where is the crew always complaining about Democratic Harris County Judges?  How will officers involved be punished? Where is the police union? 

As we face an authoritarian threat in Texas and the nation, we need a police force that is competent and that cares about the people they should be serving.

I know it will be taken as naive to even express or write the sentence above. But we don't have to accept as city residents that our police won't do their jobs and can't be held accountable. Freedom is on the line in our politics. We must demand that police be on the right side of that fight.    

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