Police shootings

Texas now tracks the deadly encounters, but the data needs to be standardized.

Years ago, Texas writer Larry McMurtry described Houston as a city where violence was so commonplace that shootings were roughly akin to sport in certain parts of town and in certain places on a typical Saturday night. Houston police, no doubt, had their hands full back then.

If Houstonians were still blase about the sanctity of life, we might have some explanation for the Bayou City’s dubious distinction regarding the number of people who have been shot by police. When it comes to Houston cops firing their weapons at people, we’re No. 1 — by an eye-opening margin.

In an article that appeared in the Chronicle earlier this week, Eva Ruth Moravec reported that police in the state’s largest cities shot 159 people in the first year that the state tracked such cases under a groundbreaking new law. Officers in Houston pulled the trigger on 31 of them. In San Antonio and Dallas, the number was eight. Fort Worth and Austin each had five.

Granted, Houston is larger, but that disparity is disturbing. And unacceptable.

Thanks to state Rep. Eric Johnson, D-Dallas, we now have access to such data and can investigate what the numbers mean, which is exactly what Johnson had in mind. Troubled by the debate over disproportionate use of force against minorities, he was able to pass a law during the 2015 legislative session that requires cities to gather information about all officer-involved shootings.

The law is a good first step, although Johnson told reporter Moravec that he is exploring the possibility of amending his law next session to ensure agencies comply (since some are not) and to encourage the state to analyze the data. He also wants to take a closer look at the roles race and mental health play in police shootings, particularly of the unarmed.

Meanwhile, Houstonians and other Texans have an obligation to continue monitoring those they entrust to protect and serve, whether that means increased use of body cameras or active and engaged citizen review boards. Monitoring also means insisting that police officers are equipped with the very best training on the use of force.

In the words of former police officer Seth Stoughton, writing in The Atlantic magazine, officers must be trained “to think beyond the gun-belt.”

Stoughton explains: “The pepper spray, baton, Taser and gun that are so easily accessible to officers are meant to be tools of last resort, to be used when non-violent tactics fail or aren’t an option. By changing officer training, agencies could start to shift the culture of policing away from the ‘frontal assault’ mindset and toward an approach that emphasizes preserving the lives that officers are charged with protecting.”

We would suggest that Houston cops could learn a thing or two from their brothers in blue up Interstate 45. In 2009, citizens filed nearly 150 complaints of excessive force by Dallas police officers; in 2013, after Chief David Brown instituted de-escalation tactics, they filed just 13. Again, note the shooting disparity: Houston, 31; Dallas, 8.

That same department we just lauded lost four of its finest in July when they were among five officers ambushed by a sniper during a Black Lives Matter protest. Despite that tragedy, it’s unlikely that Dallas cops will be changing their approach to the community they serve. Dallas’ problem now — its challenge — is to find a replacement for Chief Brown, who announced his retirement a few days ago. Houston’s problem is two-fold: reducing the number of police shootings in this city and hiring a police chief to put in place policies toward that end.

Mayor Sylvester Turner gets prickly when he’s reminded that this city has gone eight months without a successor to Chief Charles McClelland, who retired in February. The number 31 — 31 police shootings, that is — is one more reason why the mayor needs to get on with the task at hand.