Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Social Media Questions Answered
On Saturday, February 1, we had such a great response at the Town Hall Meeting that we were unable to ask the questions submitted via social media. We have since sat down with HPD Chief Charles McClelland, and he has answered the questions asked by our Facebook and Twitter followers. Thank you everyone who submitted questions.
Answer:
The state of Texas allows for concealed carry when a person has successfully completed a Concealed Handgun Licensing Program. When an HPD officer stops a CHL holder on traffic, that person must show their concealed handgun license and tell the officer if they have a weapon in their car and where it is.
Officers are a group of people like any other group, and have the ability to form their own opinions. While officers have their own personal opinions on whether citizens should have an ability to carry a concealed weapon, HPD officers enforce state and federal laws regardless of their personal opinions and remain impartial.
Answer:
Answer:
Answer:
The state of Texas allows for concealed carry when a person has successfully completed a Concealed Handgun Licensing Program. When an HPD officer stops a CHL holder on traffic, that person must show their concealed handgun license and tell the officer if they have a weapon in their car and where it is.
Officers are a group of people like any other group, and have the ability to form their own opinions. While officers have their own personal opinions on whether citizens should have an ability to carry a concealed weapon, HPD officers enforce state and federal laws regardless of their personal opinions and remain impartial.
Answer:
Mayor Parker created the Independent Police Oversight Board
(IPOB) to have community involvement in various aspects of HPD services. The panel consists of 29 members appointed by
the mayor. Members are experts in
criminal justice and include retired judges, prosecutors and civil rights
attorneys. The IPOB has access to all
records and reviews all internal affairs investigations, and makes
recommendations to the Chief of Police regarding discipline. They also review and make recommendations on
training procedures and hiring of new officers.
In 2013 the number of IAD complaints received by HPD was a
record low. There were 235 complaints
filed by citizens against officers, in comparison to 1,178 commendations filed
by citizens applauding efforts of HPD employees last year.
The goal of HPD is to have the most professional police
department in the United States, with a strong emphasis on providing good
customer service. We welcome the input of
the IPOB and citizens.
Answer:
I’m sorry that you had to sit
in traffic before the event. When locations such as the Reliant complex
have events, the traffic control functions are coordinated directly by Reliant,
using law enforcement officers from various agencies through extra
employment.
Yes, external vests will be an optional part of the uniform
for officers.
Answer:
Door
to door solicitors are regulated by Houston city ordinance and community deed
restrictions. Solicitors who are
requesting donations for a charitable organization are required by ordinance to
have a permit; all other solicitors are not required to have a permit. However, police officers have limited
abilities to enforce door to door solicitation when solicitors leave when asked
and do not enter posted private properties.
Therefore, it is up to each individual neighborhood to work with their
homeowner’s associations to enforce violations of their deed restrictions.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Question from a citizen in the audience
"What education does HPD provide in schools regarding gang violence and drugs?"
AC Curran: Patrol Captains have community service officers that go out to the schools and talk on various topics. They are available to go out and speak.
AC Curran: Patrol Captains have community service officers that go out to the schools and talk on various topics. They are available to go out and speak.
Question from a citizen in the audience
"Is there a plan in place to properly destroy the old light blue uniforms?"
Larry Yium: We will try to recycle some of them but the patches will be taken off. Whatever can't be used, we will be shredding.
Larry Yium: We will try to recycle some of them but the patches will be taken off. Whatever can't be used, we will be shredding.
Question from a citizen in the audience
"I am with LULAC and we are very concerned with the 'use of force.' Citizens are afraid to call the police. Why is there a high number of citizens killed by police who are unarmed (25%)?"
Chief McClelland: HPD has the most extensive training of any LEO agency in this state or in the US bar none. The Command Staff is very diverse. The Chief does not control promotions; it is done by a process. Each rank has a certain number of personnel. Those examinations are competitive written tests and assessment centers ranked by outside vendors. Your score puts you on the rank list; not your skin color. When it comes to the use of deadly force, regarding the dash cam, some will always have them in units such as DWI enforcement. Regarding the gentleman in the wheelchair, a dash cam would not have caught any of the incident. Many incidents happen away from the police car. The police-involved shootings in the 3-4 years since I've been Chief is the most scrutinized.
There is nothing in state law, federal law or training that says an officer cannot fire his/her weapon if the suspect is unarmed. The officer's justification to use deadly force lies with the officers perception. This has been upheld by the US Supreme Court. A police officer can be wrong but not criminally wrong. They make a split second decision to save their live or someone else's life.
The unfortunate case about the amputee in the wheelchair, that case was investigated by Homicide, Harris County Grand Jury, Internal Affairs, Harris County DA and the FBI. They all said the same thing: the officer's decision to use force did not violate law or civil rights. It was a horrible case and was unfortunate. FBI is a Federal Agency; I do not have control over them and they came to the same conclusion.
HPD is made up of 51% minorities. We have 1100 bilingual officers; 900 of them speak Spanish.
Chief McClelland: HPD has the most extensive training of any LEO agency in this state or in the US bar none. The Command Staff is very diverse. The Chief does not control promotions; it is done by a process. Each rank has a certain number of personnel. Those examinations are competitive written tests and assessment centers ranked by outside vendors. Your score puts you on the rank list; not your skin color. When it comes to the use of deadly force, regarding the dash cam, some will always have them in units such as DWI enforcement. Regarding the gentleman in the wheelchair, a dash cam would not have caught any of the incident. Many incidents happen away from the police car. The police-involved shootings in the 3-4 years since I've been Chief is the most scrutinized.
There is nothing in state law, federal law or training that says an officer cannot fire his/her weapon if the suspect is unarmed. The officer's justification to use deadly force lies with the officers perception. This has been upheld by the US Supreme Court. A police officer can be wrong but not criminally wrong. They make a split second decision to save their live or someone else's life.
The unfortunate case about the amputee in the wheelchair, that case was investigated by Homicide, Harris County Grand Jury, Internal Affairs, Harris County DA and the FBI. They all said the same thing: the officer's decision to use force did not violate law or civil rights. It was a horrible case and was unfortunate. FBI is a Federal Agency; I do not have control over them and they came to the same conclusion.
HPD is made up of 51% minorities. We have 1100 bilingual officers; 900 of them speak Spanish.
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