Police

Hands-On Experience

Dozens of teenage Explorers have been sexually abused by police officers. Critics say the Boy Scouts, who oversee the program, should share the blame.

Chad Holley's Police Beating Is Subject of an Angry NAACP Town Hall Meeting

Mandy OaklanderAnnise Parker spoke at an NAACP town hall meeting last night.​Last night around 7 p.m., the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church was packed tighter than a month's worth of Sunday mornings. Hundreds swarmed to attend the standing-room-only NAACP town hall meeting about the recent ... More >>

DWI Crackdown Begins -- With Arrests Of Two Galveston County Law-Enforcement Officers

Prosecutor and sheriff's deputy arrested​Police departments, sheriff's offices and district attorneys have been loudly getting the word out about DWI crackdowns at the end of the year. Maybe some of their employees should have paid attention. Fox 26 reports that two law-enforcement officials ... More >>

No Changes Needed At Houston's Messed-Up Fingerprint Lab, City Council Decides

Photo by umboodySome council members think money won't make the problems at HPD's fingerprint lab go away. ​The Houston City Council approved today -- despite concerns from several council members -- a contract to keep paying a consulting firm to basically run the police department's fingerprint l ... More >>

Under Fire

Present and former officers accuse HCC's police chief of not treating his employees fairly.

Houston To Be Transformed Into District 9, Entirely Plausible Radio Host Says

​Alex Jones, the sometimes-entertaining nationwide radio host based out of Austin, has seldom met a conspiracy theory he didn't embrace whole-heartedly. He's the author of 9/11:Descent Into Tyranny which, as you might guess, outlines the New World Order's plans to enslave us all.His latest call to ... More >>

79-Year-Old Woman Says HPD Gave Her A Beating

​It was a steamy hot day in mid-August when 79-year-old Tillion Thomas was driving home after a church function. Suddenly, she saw police lights in her mirror. A cop was pulling her over for allegedly speeding.It was, however, anything but a routine traffic stop, claims Thomas. The retired school ... More >>

Parker And Locke Tussle Over Cops And Trust

Who do you trust on Public Safety?The Annise Parker and Gene Locke campaigns released their initial runoff ads this week. In Parker's "Leader" ad she proudly acknowledges that the Houston Chronicle has endorsed her and decides to concentrate on public safety as the theme for her message.The ad ... More >>

Judge Says No To Beards In The HPD

​The effort by some Houston police officers to wear beards on the job (and off the job, too, we guess) was dealt a setback when a federal judge threw their lawsuit out of court.HPD brass trumpeted the decision by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in a press release in which chief Harold Hurtt said ... More >>

Metro Also Getting Some Of That Stimulus Funding That HPD Missed

Courtesy Cushing Memorial Library & Archives​Last week we told you how the police force of Milo, Maine (Motto: "Such As It Is") was receiving more stimulus funds than HPD. Admittedly easy to do, since HPD was getting zero stimulus funds.Now the snub gets worse: Metro will be feeding at the tro ... More >>

Houston 101: An Earlier Time When Shots Rang Out At TSU

 On May 17, 1967 racial tension and misinformation led to a riot on the Texas Southern University campus.At the time, Houston, like the rest of the country, was struggling with race relations. Herman Short was chief of police under Mayor Louie Welch; Short was especially disliked by Houston's b ... More >>

Kemah Says It's Firing Cops Due To Ike; Cops Think Otherwise

Photo by Daniel KramerMaybe you heard, but Hurricane Ike smashed up Kemah pretty badly, and things aren't looking too good for the city these days.Sure, the vaunted boardwalk is coming back, and the local Wal-Mart is scheduled to reopen today, but the city has reported about a $400,000 loss in ... More >>

Annise Parker Says She'll Get Rid Of HPD Chief Hurtt

Photo courtesy Annise Parker campaignMayoral candidate Annise Parker has plans get rid of Police Chief Harold Hurtt if she's elected. "I will replace the police chief. I think he's ineffective," Parker told the Houston Property Rights Association at a luncheon on Friday. "He doesn't..." Parker was i ... More >>

Bystander Hit During A Police Shooting: Pretty Rare, Expert Says

Photo by dizfunkshinal Tuesday's Metro Police shooting was not just unusual in that it was the first fatal shooting in the agency's history, but in that a bystander was injured as well. While we wait for more details to emerge from HPD, which is leading the investigation, Hair Balls checked in with ... More >>

Breaking News: Cops Don't Like Being Told They're Fat

Photo by sylvarSo far, no one's pointed to any evidence linking lack of physical fitness among some Houston Police Department officers with problems like the disproportionate Tasering of minorities, the shootings of quite a few mentally ill folks, or even the supreme fuck-up that put an innocent man ... More >>

A Second Mistrial For Dymond Milburn, The 12-year-Old "Hooker" Arrested By Galveston Cops

A deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial for Dymond Milburn, the black girl who -- when she was 12 years old -- was charged with assaulting police officers who tried to arrest her in her front yard.The cops had been looking for three white hookers. Milburn was hospitalized and later arrested at her ... More >>

Tale of the 12-Year-Old

Is Harris County Jail the Place for A Mentally Troubled Teen?

Laura Howard got tossed into a jail treatment program, but it was the wrong one for someone whose mental health was in tatters

The Bryan Police-Chief Scandal Gets Stranger, Unless You Think Black-Eye Sex Is Normal

Since we wrote about wife-fighting city officials in Bryan, the story has gotten weird, and it raises the question, is it worth covering up a domestic brawl by claiming that the black eye happened during sex?According to media reports and a courthouse source who's an Official Hair Balls Pal, here's ... More >>

Sheriffs Department Seeking Air Power

Collision Course

A lawsuit challenges deputies who shoot fleeing drivers

The Freedom Fighter?

James "Smokie" Phillips is running for constable -- and running from his past

Hard Sale

A flood of lawsuits has turned Dillard's into a master of defense

A Closer Look at Dillard's

The War Within

Mark Aguirre is an aggressive Houston cop who won civilian support by fighting crime. But the abrasive captain could lose his biggest battle: the one raging over him in HPD itself.

Policing the Police

Does the Citizen Review Committee do the job?

The Insider

Report No Evil! UH threatens its top cop for reporting a star athlete's misdeeds

Get the Picture!

Who approved $8,000 in tax funds for a mayoral portrait that nobody wants?

Dead, Dead, Dead

The police killings of Pedro Oregon, Ida Lee Delaney and Byron Gillum

The Truth is Out There

Pharmacist Garland Gross says Deer Park police have abused him for ten years. Police say Gross is a jerk who harasses them.

Breaking the Blue Code of Silence

Cops keep secrets. HPD Chief Clarence Bradford wants to reveal them.

Reefer Madness

Does Houston's biggest drug-prevention program keep kids clean or just make cops feel good?

The Insider

Lee Brown's Crown Heights Problem

Bad Boy In Blue

Union head Hans Marticiuc (rhymes with wreck) takes aim at the police chief, the mayor, other labor leaders and anyone else who gets in his way

Price of Justice

A jury tags Harris County for hiring the killer behind the badge

No Time for Sergeants

The Houston Police Department puts high-ranking cops out on the street

Tales From the Brookside

From the outside, Brookside Village looks small-town calm. But those on the inside insist that something, somehow, is afoot.

Security Risk

Was there something else behind the sheriff's forbidding off-duty work at abortion clinics?

Mad Dog's Demise

Alan Mabry was a man on a mission. His death last month left friends, colleagues and authorities baffled -- as did his obsessive life.

The Law East of Downtown

With his army of volunteer deputies, Victor Trevino is Harris County's most innovative and open lawman. But his sharp tongue hasn't endeared him to other politicians. And some wonder if all his power has gone to his head.

A Whiter Shade of Blue

The White Officers Association is making waves in HPD

All the Law Enforcement You Can Afford

Harris County has abdicated a basic responsibility of government: to provide for the public safety of all. Instead, those who have get and those who don't get the leftovers.

Letters

Killer Behind the Badge

Susan White complained to friends and authorities about Deputy Joseph Kent McGowen, but nobody listened. Then he killed her.

Sam Nuchia in Black and White

Houston's top cop has been a pleasant surprise to the city's black community. But in his own department, it's a different story.

Rudy T's Spin Move

Giving the Big No to Nuchia

HPD rank-and-file reject the chief's promotions policy -- and the chief himself

HPD Blues

Mixed reviews for Chief Nuchia's promotions plan

Play It Again, Sam!

Police try another less-than-zero-tolerance plan