Last August, Houston police Captain Mark Aguirre was angry. He'd become commander of the city's South Central Station operations and led a major effort that had gained citywide attention for reducing crime. But the momentum was beginning to stall, and Aguirre felt mounting resistance from his own front-line supervisors on his calls to step up police activity.
Second Ward Association
In early May, the Second Ward Association honored Aguirre and Mayor Lee Brown for their crime-fighting efforts.
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Worse yet, many of his primary staff personnel had been no-shows at a recent staff meeting. So Aguirre, the department's highest-ranking Hispanic officer, ordered another session that was mandatory for about 30 sergeants and lieutenants under him. In blunt terms, he told them he wanted the patrol officers to focus on serious crimes and do more than hang out and write a few traffic tickets.
Not long after that meeting, Aguirre heard from the department's internal affairs division. It was investigating an anonymous complaint lodged against him for using profanity and threatening language.
Aguirre initially was puzzled -- he hadn't had any such encounters with citizens. But this complaint came from the cops themselves, hardly prudish sorts. And eventually Police Chief Clarence Bradford would be caught up in the fallout from the dispute.
Someone from the captain's own staff had sent the allegations in an unsigned letter to IAD, along with a tape recording secretly made of the session at South Central. In imploring his command staff for better results, Aguirre had sprinkled his message with ample four-letter seasoning: No one got singled out, although they heard an earful of such terms as "lazy bastard," "son of a bitch" and "goddammit" -- with a few "shits" for good measure.
The anonymous complaint also accused the captain of punctuating the profanity with what some of the cops said they perceived as threats. One accusation claimed Aguirre told the group that if they didn't succeed in motivating the patrol teams, he'd "grind them into dog patties and stomp them into pancakes." Failure, the captain allegedly told them, meant that he'd "chop your heads off, starting at the anus."
Portions of the tape recording were inaudible, and it did not cover the entire meeting, although IAD investigators eventually amassed more than 15 statements from police saying that Aguirre had used foul language. A disciplinary committee recommended a five-day suspension; Bradford reduced that to a written reprimand.
The department's brass figured the matter was over. But for Aguirre, it was just heating up. He appealed through the Civil Service Commission.
Attorney Terry Yates, representing Aguirre in a hearing last week, was appalled that the fuzz would suddenly be so warm and fuzzy. As the son and brother of police officers, Yates explained that "colorful language" has long been a part of the tough profession of law enforcement. Aguirre, a 22-year veteran, was facing an "insurrection" against his command and had to be blunt to emphasize his points and motivate the staff, Yates explained.
"The intent was to chew ass -- pure and simple," an unrepentant Aguirre testified. He says he praises when it's warranted, but will also "chew ass" if needed. "I get results," he said.
The 45-year-old captain said he spoke about lopping off heads starting at the ankles -- not the anus, as described in the allegations. The threat was no more than someone saying that "heads will roll," he explained. And Aguirre was adamant that he never mentioned anything remotely like grinding the cops into dog patties and pancakes (nor was that contained on the tape).
IAD investigators showed everyone the original anonymous complaint -- rather than asking them what happened in the meeting -- so many of the later witnesses simply copied that term in their own statements, Aguirre contended. His attackers, he said, were "opportunists" who saw the chance to "show displeasure" with him.
In his testimony, Bradford praised the effectiveness of Aguirre and conceded that he had received a tough assignment. The chief said the discipline wasn't any indication that HPD had canned the cursing, but that Aguirre's mix of epithets and threats was excessive for what was a formal staff meeting.
Aguirre "belittled, he disrespected [the staff]…he threatened physical violence," Bradford said. "That's unacceptable and should not be tolerated."
Before Bradford left, Yates had a final question: What about the chief's own profanity? After hearing examiner Tina Snelling overruled a series of heated objections by Assistant City Attorney Marcus Dobbs, Bradford conceded that he curses at times, but no worse than Aguirre. And certainly such language, other than perhaps a "slip of the tongue," isn't a part of meetings, he added.
So, Yates inquired, had the chief ever called executive Assistant Chief Joe Breshears a "motherfucker"?
After Dobbs peppered Snelling with more objections, Bradford -- seemingly surprised -- denied the accusation. The chief said they were good friends, and such a phrase might have come out during a golf match or in some comical instance that was later taken out of context. "But I'd deny it even casually," he insisted.
Then came Breshears. Yes, he said, Bradford had summoned some assistants into his office for a meeting and -- in the heat of discussion -- stung Breshears by calling him a "stupid motherfucker."
