» Harris County commissioners approve criminal justice reforms, oversight measures.
Items, including oversight measures, receive some support, but enforcement is limited
Harris County’s sheriff and eight constables voiced support Wednesday for some of the policing and criminal justice reform measures approved by Commissioners Court hours after George Floyd, a longtime Houstonian killed by Minneapolis police, was laid to rest.
In a session that stretched past midnight, Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved 10 reformminded items inspired by the nationwide protests following Floyd’s May 25 video-recorded death, including a pledge to examine how to create a civilian oversight board with subpoena power, adopt a countywide use-of-force policy for officers and establish a database of use-of-force incidents.
Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said all eight constables met for several hours Wednesday morning to discuss the proposals. The group was unanimous in favor of adopting a universal use-offorce policy and sharing documents, including video, to help the county create a public log of violent police encounters.
“We’re in agreement to work with Judge Hidalgo’s group and be transparent and show any use of force we have,” Herman said.
Precinct 3’s Sherman Eagleton, one of two African American constables, said the group did not come to a conclusion about welcoming more civilian oversight. He said Floyd’s killing had already spurred the constables to review their policies, though the group needs more time to evaluate the Commissioners Court proposals.
“That civilian review board might be a good thing once we find out more about it,” he said.
Cooperation of law enforcement is crucial because the ability of Commissioners Court to actually implement the changes is limited. Unlike the Houston Police Department, which is directly overseen by Mayor Sylvester Turner and City Council, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and the eight constables are independently elected.
During the discussion Tuesday evening on creating a database of use-of-force incidents, First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard warned court members they were perilously close to exceeding their authority by setting policy for other elected officials.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo
agreed to amend the item to make clear that participation by agencies would be voluntary. She said video footage, however, often is crucial in exposing misconduct by police, as was the case in Floyd’s killing.
“How many times has this kind of thing happened and it just so happens that no one was taking a video, and so we didn’t know?” she said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis said he was open to testing the limits of the court’s power even if that meant an issue needed to be resolved in state court. He said Commissioners Court’s passage of the items also could force the elected law enforcement officials to confront those issues.
“We do have the right to put the public pressure on, you got me?” Ellis said.
Commissioners Court sets the budgets for all county departments, and the Democratic majority has shown a willingness to use that as leverage to achieve its criminal justice agenda. In one instance, the court last year rejected District Attorney Kim Ogg’s request for 102 more prosecutors and instead nearly doubled the budget for the Public Defender’s Office.
Several public speakers urged court members to pass the items. Jessica Demasi endorsed Ellis’s proposal to create a new first responder program to respond to some calls that currently fall to police, such as mental health and substance abuse crises. Counselors and social workers are better equipped to handle these situations, she said.
“It is unfair and a disservice to law enforcement and people suffering from mental health issues to ask them to respond to these situations without the proper knowledge and skills required to effectively respond,” Demasi said.
Matthew Maliel, who said he was of Indian descent, described being racially profiled by police in Boston and Houston. He said he supported the creation of a civilian oversight board because he believes police too often are not held accountable for their actions.
“I was fortunate,” Maliel said. “My experiences were nothing like the experiences of what so many other black and brown folks deal with all the time.”
Court members debated the proposals with public speakers and each other for more than three hours. Each item passed unanimously except a proposal by Ellis to create a study of non-punitive ways to address issues such as poverty, homelessness and mental illness. Ellis said he wished to commit $25 million to the effort in the future.
The Republican commissioners, Precinct 3’s Steve Radack and Precinct 4’s Jack Cagle, voted against the idea. Cagle, who at times has criticized his Democratic colleagues for being insufficiently transparent, said he did not like that the agenda item included no dollar figure.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez appeared at the virtual session Tuesday, and said he largely was supportive of the reform proposals. He cautioned, however, that sufficiently improving his department would require a larger budget, not cuts.
“Fixing these long-standing problems will likely require smart, strategic investment,” he wrote in a memo to court members on Monday. “There is no cheap fix.”
Gonzalez told the Chronicle Monday that in order to recruit and retain more elite deputies, the sheriff ’s office likely would need to offer higher salaries.
The court also passed a resolution condeming Floyd’s death and calling for reform to a racist justice system. The vote was 4-1; Radack joined his colleagues in calling Floyd’s death tragic, but declined to criticize law enforcement in general terms.