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By Gary Blankinship
 Mayor Parker outlined her process, which will involve the assistance of the Washington, DC-based police management organization, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The process will be designed to look closely within the ranks of HPD for a new police chief. The good thing about the mayor's process is that she will be fully engaged in it with a deep institutional knowledge of how HPD works plus how it has evolved over the past three decades.
Therefore, the process should be one that enables Mayor Parker to accomplish the goal of selecting a police chief who can be a true leader - one who can move our department forward during her term in office.
It's our opinion that there are a number of highly qualified people within HPD who could immediately step in and do a great job of moving the organization forward.
Meet and Confer
Mayor Parker stated to us that she is very comfortable with Acting Chief of Police Chuck McClelland's ability to run HPD. This will afford her the opportunity to properly vet the potential applicants for the job. Mayor Parker added that while she didn't want to be tied to any set timeline, she felt that the process should not take longer than another six weeks.
The mayor also visited with us about the meet-and-confer process that should commence very soon. Issues associated with staffing, deployment, wages, benefits and length of the agreement will all be part of the negotiation process and we committed to Mayor Parker to doing everything we can to achieve a fair and workable agreement for HPD officers and the citizens of Houston.
The bottom line is: The mayor wants our help to make HPD better. After meeting with her after her election, we are confident that as a team, we can improve officers' lot and make HPD a more responsive organization to the citizens we serve daily.
Therefore, our goal will be to continue our first-class representation of all HPD officers while, at the same time, team up with Mayor Parker and our friends on City Council to do all we can to achieve our mutual goal of moving our department from good to great.
Losing a Friend
On Jan. 2, I lost a close personal friend. Paul Santerre, who retired last January and served over 30 years on the department, passed away. Paul and I went to the Motorcycle detail early in our careers and worked together for over 25 years.
Paul and I raised our children together and spent many hours sweating or freezing on those motorcycles at work. He will be sorely missed and my thoughts and prayers are with Cathy his wife and Hanna and Zach.
TCLEOSE Praise
On Jan. 12, the HPOU hosted a regional planning and strategy session for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education TCLEOSE. Six of the nine appointed Commissioners were present as well as over 200 area chiefs, sheriffs, and law enforcement representatives.
These sessions are somewhat of a new concept in which the state seeks input from the local level for direction. The HPOU was praised as host and commissioners stated this was the largest participation they had achieved since starting the process.
Out-Firing Firefighters
Also on Jan. 12, the Houston Police Officers Union was challenged by the Houston Fire Department to a jalapeno-eating contest for charity. Representing HPD was veteran jalapeno eaters Matt Calley (Parole Offenders), Mikey LaReau (Southeast Gangs) and Shawn Palin (Southeast Patrol).
Of course no team can prosper without a good coach. An extensive search was conducted and world renowned jalapeno-eating coach Gary Hicks (Southeast Patrol) was selected to coach this fine team as well as talk trash to the firefighters during the competition.
Each contestant had to attempt to eat twelve jalapeno peppers in 60 seconds. Of course this was no challenge for the iron-gutted HPD team. However, the HFD team succumbed to the pressure and was unable to consume there allotment.
Each officer was awarded one free year of food at Whataburger and a $750 donation was made to the Assist The Officer Foundation. After the event the HPD team retreated to the HPOU building for plenty of milk and Tums.
Matt Calley was quoted as saying "That's a young man's sport." Capt. Lori Bender commended these heroic competitors.
As we get closer to the Meet and Confer process I will be scheduling meeting to meet with all ranks for input. So stay tuned and we will move forward.
Stay Safe my Friends. VAYA CON DIOS.
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