Harris County Dems push police reforms

The three Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court have proposed several policing reforms, including increased civilian oversight of officers, a new model governing the use of force and a potential re-examination of how law enforcement agencies are funded.

The proposals come amid nationwide protests against police brutality after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers on May 25. A funeral for Floyd, who grew up in Third Ward, was scheduled for Tuesday in Houston. A public visitation was held Monday. Around 60,000 people attended a march and rally in the city last week.

The county leaders are attempting to capitalize on the sudden groundswell of popular support for revamping the criminal justice system, pledging to implement deliberate, research-based reforms while balancing the expectations of activists, for whom change cannot come soon enough.

The 10 proposals are the most significant attempt in decades at reforming law enforcement, long one of the most intractable issues in Harris County politics, owing to the status of the county sheriff and eight constables as independently elected officials.

In the new fiscal reality where the county is under a revenue cap, they also raise the possibility of shifting resources away from law enforcement agencies and into social services, a tenet of the nascent “defund police” movement.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who has cited criminal justice laws as among his proudest achievements during his 26-year career in the Texas Senate, said that while the proposals may take months to hone, the process of reform must start now, before the uproar over Floyd’s death subsides.

“I think you confront these issues, these public policy opportunities that come as a result of tragic

incidents like the murder of George Floyd that prick the American psyche,” Ellis said. “They touch our soul, our consciousness. And you try to do as much as you can most long-term and shortterm.”

Ellis placed seven of the items on the agenda, while County Judge Lina Hidalgo proposed two and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia pitched one. They would:

• Examine whether to create an independent county civilian oversight board, with the ability to subpoena documents and witnesses and to investigate claims against police, including use-of-force complaints;

• order the creation of a universal use-of-force policy for all county law enforcement agencies, to include de-escalation techniques and alternatives to violence;

• determine how to engage the community in budget evaluations for all the county’s criminal justice departments;

• create a public website with monthly use-of-force reports, including video footage, submitted by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and constables’ offices;

• determine the feasibility of creating a new emergency responder program to handle some responsibilities that currently fall to police, such as mental health and substance abuse crises;

• study whether to create a new county agency to run “violence interruption programs” to end cycles of violence in communities;

• determine how to expand alternative, nonpunitive intervention techniques to address issues including poverty, homelessness and substance abuse;

• study the effect on poor arrestees of cash bail, criminal fines, fees and penalties;

• order a biannual report on current racial disparities in the justice system with recommendations on how to eliminate them;

• and make improvements to the indigent defense system.

Hidalgo, who declared Tuesday as George Floyd Day, said she will not use the “defund police” phrase because it may lead residents to incorrectly assume she favors abolishing law enforcement agencies. She said an ongoing efficiency study of county departments, however, may determine that spending on services such as treatment for mental health and substance abuse may be more effective than investing in police.

“It’s not about budgeting the way we’ve done in the past or a slogan about tough on crime, or a headline about how somebody was killed, but instead on outcomes,” Hidalgo said. “Where does it say more prosecutors make you safer? Where does it say more police makes you safer?”

Commissioners Court has less power over Harris County law enforcement agencies than Mayor Sylvester Turner and City Council do over the Houston Police Department. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and the eight county constables are independently elected and generally have autonomy over their departments.

A short-lived effort by Garcia earlier this year to potentially reform the county’s contract deputy program, which critics deride as unfair because wealthier neighborhoods can pay for extra police protection, failed when all eight constables opposed it.

Commissioners Court, however, sets the budget for county agencies, and the trio of Democrats has shown a willingness to use that tool to push criminal justice reforms. Most notably, they rejected a request by the district attorney to hire 100 new prosecutors and at the same meeting nearly doubled the budget of the public defender’s office.

David Cuevas, president of the Harris County Deputies’ Organization, said the union believes its members should be held to a high standard, and he raised no objection to creating a database of useof-force incidents. He said an independent oversight board is unnecessary, however, because the district attorney already has the power to prosecute police misconduct.

He said Commissioners Court, which has been run by Democrats since last year, misunderstands how to provide public safety because it declined to fund 260 new deputy positions the sheriff had asked for earlier this year.

“It’s concerning and disingenuous to mandate more criteria for law enforcement agencies — which I believe we should have — and not properly fund it,” Cuevas said.

Gonzales said he largely supports the proposals and acknowledged that much of the anger directed at police by protesters is rooted in past reform promises by police that they failed to keep.

He urged Commissioners Court, however, against making quick, drastic changes to law enforcement budgets that could place public safety in jeopardy.

“We simply can’t go from one day to the next to say, ‘OK, let’s take these dollars and let somebody else respond to it,’ because many of those programs will still call law enforcement when there’s a threat, because these can still become very violent,” Gonzalez said.

The county’s elected law enforcement leaders should cooperate with court members, said Devin Branch of the Texas Organizing Project, a progressive advocacy group that helped propel Hidalgo to office.

“I think the time for movement is now, and I don’t think now is too quick,” Branch said.

Ellis said since Commissioners Court effectively cannot raise property taxes, he will look for funding sources other than existing law enforcement budgets to pay for the reforms, such as tapping into departments’ reserve funds.

The sheriff’s and constables’ budgets account for nearly half of general fund spending, Ellis estimated — a logical place from which to shift money, if needed.

“I’m agnostic as to where it’s going to come from,” he said. “But it’s damn sure going to come from somewhere.”