5 on council seek police board overhaul

Letter to mayor also calls for incentive pay for officers living in city, cite-and-release law

Five City Council members on Monday sent a letter to Mayor Sylvester Turner outlining police reforms they said Houston can implement immediately, including a “complete overhaul” of the Independent Police Oversight Board, a cite-and-release ordinance and incentive pay for officers who live within city limits.

In the letter, council members Edward Pollard, Tiffany Thomas, Jerry Davis, Martha Castex-Tatum and Carolyn Evans-Shabazz detail a slew of more than 25 reforms. Chief among them: a sweeping reboot of the oversight board, which reviews probes by the Houston Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division.

They recommended the board have complete autonomy and investigative authority, with full access to all unclassified information from HPD.

“We are convinced there must be a complete overhaul of the Independent Police Oversight Board (IPOB),” the letter says. “We have no confidence in the current format. We must create a structure of guidelines that governs the function of the new board to restore public trust with public input.”

The letter comes as the mayor’s Task Force on Policing Reform is wrapping up its work. The group’s report and recommendations are expected some time in September.

Turner, who has defended the police department and said the city needs more officers, said he welcomed the council members’ input and has forwarded their recommendations to the task force.

At a press conference Monday, he declined to stake out a position on any of their proposals, citing the task force’s ongoing work.

“I don’t want to get out in front of the 45 people who are working on that as we speak,” Turner said.

He did say, however, that a citeand-release policy is in the works apart from the task force, though he did not offer further details. Such policies generally let some

people charged with low-level crimes off with a citation instead of an arrest.

The council members’ letter also said the city could implement an online, independently-maintained dashboard showing complaints of police misconduct, HPD policies, guidelines “and other relevant information.”

“This platform will be an innovative measure to not only hold officers accountable for misconduct, but will increase police community relations by being transparent in a data driven fashion,” the letter said.

The letter outlines 25 items they asked be included in the next contract between the city and the Houston Police Officers’ Union.

Those include offering incentive pay and hiring priority to officers who live within city limits; recruiting officers from historically Black colleges and universities;

having a citizen and citizen attorney present for walk-throughs at all police shootings; publishing HPD’s General Orders online; ending the “48 Hour” and “180 Hour” rules, which give officers accused of misconduct time to prepare their defense, and including a council member in contract negotiations with the Houston Police Officers Union.

Omits mention of budget

One measure notably absent in the letter is the city’s budget, which drew criticism for increasing money for police by roughly $19 million amid calls to “defund” the police, or reallocate some of their funds to other city services. The letter makes no recommendation on that matter.

Police Chief Art Acevedo said he appreciated the input.

HPOU President Joe Gamaldi did not respond to a request for comment.

The letter received a cool reception among advocates and activists who have been pushing for more

aggressive reforms.

Jaison Oliver, who has appeared before the council and lobbied for it to redirect police funds, said the letter falls short for that reason. He said the sole mention of the budget alluded to giving more money for Houston-based officers, a prospect that could further increase the budget.

“Your whole thinking is focused on, ‘How do we make a stronger police department, and how do we invest more resources in policing,’” said Oliver. “And that’s not going to make us safer. That’s not going to make us healthier.”

Sarah Labowitz, policy and advocacy director for the ACLU of Texas said it was encouraging that council members are feeling a sense of urgency.

“The community has called for a bunch of these things,” she said, citing the oversight board reform, cite-and-release policy and disciplinary windows. “And, yet, there are some major things where we still need action. And in all of this, council could act now. If they had

the ordinance in front of them, they could act now on body camera release, on cite-and-release, and on (banning) no-knock warrants. That’s what we really want to see — real action now.”

Some are skeptical

Ashton Woods, a founder and leader of Black Lives Matter Houston, reacted with skepticism. He pointed out that it did not address the budget, asked that the oversight board get access to only unclassified materials and would maintain the disciplinary boards formed by the police department and union.

“Thing is, this feels like a sham that was APPROVED by Mayor Turner,” Woods said on Twitter. “This whole thing feels like a farce… I’d appreciate (Acevedo’s) resignation… how bout that.”

Woods also noted council members absent from the letter: Abbie Kamin, who chairs the public safety committee; and Letitia Plummer, who won plaudits from activists — and consternation from her colleagues — for her bid to redirect some police funds during the budget debate.

Kamin said she has been advocating for the cite-and-release ordinance that Turner mentioned Monday. She also forwarded a report of recommendations from an eight-hour committee hearing in June, Turner said.

In a statement, Plummer said she had been waiting for the task force to submit its recommendations.

“I applaud my colleagues for bringing concrete solutions to the table. Some of these are actionable items; however, this is not the first letter that has been sent to the Mayor,” Plummer said. “Councilmembers were empowered and elected to create policy. It is time to exercise our full legislative powers. I was waiting for the Task Force to release its recommendations, but since my colleagues are ready take these steps, now it’s time to legislate.”