December 2015

In this issue:

Thank You Notes to HPOU

Tom Kennedy

HPOU, Thank you so much for helping to make my husband’s (Carless Elliott) retirement party a great success. All of you are so accommodating and helpful. There was a lot going on but that did not deter any of you from ensuring I could come in early to decorate. Taking care of the men and Read More Read more

December 2015 Obituaries

Tom Kennedy

ALMANZA Mr. Juan Almanza, 75, passed away Friday, November 13, 2015. He is the brother of Senior Police Officer Silverio Almanza, Jr., assigned to the Narcotics Division. Mr. Juan Almanza served in the United States Air Force. Services were held Nov. 18 with burial in the Houston National Cemetery. BAKER Retired Police Officer Vernon Odell Read More Read more

Fallen Heroes: Officer Timothy Lowe Hearn

Nelson Zoch

June 8, 1978 Officer Timothy Lowe Hearn was born on November 8, 1949, in Houston. After attending Oak Forest Elementary and Black Junior High, he graduated from Waltrip High School in 1968, one of a number of Waltrip graduates to become Houston police officers. He later graduated from the University of Texas in 1973 with Read More Read more

Psych Services The divorced parent’s guide to the holidays

Sonia S. Burlingame

Editor’s Note. Dr. Sonia Burlingame joined HPD Psychological Services in August. Her considerable expertise in individual, marital and family therapy has already proved a significant asset to the Department. She has been a psychologist since 1992, after earning a Ph.D. at Penn State University and completing an internship at Baylor College of Medicine. Married and Read More Read more

Truth or Consequences: Should Lying to the Media be Illegal?

Barbara A. Schwartz

Shortly after midnight on November 4th, two of Houston’s finest and bravest stopped a pickup truck in Third Ward. The officers had probable cause to affect the traffic stop. The driver pulled a gun and an officer stopped the threat. The female passenger later told the news media that the downed suspect did not have Read More Read more

Are You Poisoning Your Health with Sugar?

Kelsey-Seybold Staff

Despite your best efforts to eat healthy, if you’re like most people, you’re unknowingly being sabotaged by high levels of added sugar contained in many of the foods you eat. Soft drinks, breakfast cereals, salad dressings, BBQ sauce, protein bars, sports drinks, desserts, candy and even yogurt if it’s flavored usually contain high amounts of Read More Read more

Barn Yard Crime Stoppers: Adventures of ‘Detective Mykala’ features Discussion of Calf Scramble Progress Show

Mykala Rodriguez

Editor’s Note: Mykala Rodriguez won a calf in the Calf Scramble at this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The following his her update about her techniques for keeping her calf under control out at the “Barn Precinct.” See if you can figure out just who Detective Mykenzie is.) The continuation: Houston Calf Scramble Progress Read More Read more

Smash Girls big hit with NYPD, soon to be the subject of a book

Tom Kennedy

The Smash Girls continue making a name for themselves. Not only did they appear at the November general membership meeting of the Houston Police Officers Union holding a bake sale to benefit Smash, the HPD Mounted Patrol’s first and only deaf horse, but they also will be the subject of a book by Houston author Read More Read more

Editorial: Houston Runoff Endorsements

Tom Kennedy

THE HPOU POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE HAS CAREFULLY screened each candidate in the city’s Dec. 12 runoff election. The PAC believes that candidate Sylvester Turner, a long-time HPOU supporter in the Legislature as one of the state’s most influential state representatives, is far and away the better choice for mayor of Houston. Turner has stood strong Read More Read more

4th Annual HPOU Family Picnic just keeps on getting Better and better, drawing a record 3,000 in attendance

Tom Kennedy

For the fourth consecutive fall a good time was had by all who attended the annual HPOU Family Picnic. Every year sets a new attendance record and this year was no exception despite the change of venue. Colton Peverill, chairman of the Picnic Committee, said everything went really well, saying, “Everybody was really positive and Read More Read more

At last! HPD to be out of the jail business by March 2018 as well as experience a county-run ‘open booking’ operation

Tom Kennedy

By March 2018, the Houston Police Department will be out of the jail business, turning over the job of processing and detaining an average of 120,000 prisoners every year exclusively to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. This complicated administrative move culminates detailed plans that have been in the works for the better part of two Read More Read more

HPOU recognizes Officer Delinda Mayes for her work That led to sexual assault charges against Ben Taub doctor

Tom Kennedy

Many of us have seen TV and newspaper reports about the doctor charged with raping a patient in Ben Taub General Hospital. Now you can read about the HPD investigative officer who put the case together that resulted in charges being filed against this individual. That officer, Delinda Mayes, was recognized as the HPOU Investigator Read More Read more

HPD Lt. Dougherty, HCSO Capt. Summerlin dusted off and revised an old plan destined to streamline the way we incarcerate prisoners

Tom Kennedy

For decades, the City of Houston and Harris County have made any number of futile attempts to eliminate redundancy and save thousands of man hours by creating a one-stop-shop for the prisoner booking process in a jail run by the sheriff. Over those many years police and sheriff agendas clashed and it was relatively easy Read More Read more

The Presidents Message

Time will tell whether the city’s faulty body camera procurement process will get us into another big mess

Last month I advised that the HPOU would not sit back quietly and have a less than quality body camera system implemented. We promised to educate our City Council members before the contract was approved.

We fulfilled our promise and praise the four councilmembers who sided with us and voted no.

Those voting no were Brenda Stardig, Clarence Bradford, Mike Laster and Michael Kubosh.

After a lot of arm twisting by the administration, the camera contract passed. I am confident those who voted yes did so because they know that their constituents want cameras and want them now.

Whether or not we get the best camera for the city of Houston was clearly not a concern. One councilmember stated, “I don’t want to be on the record as going against it (cameras) but I will go home and take a shower after I do it. The way this is being thrown down our throats without giving us the opportunity to vet this, I think it’s unconscionable.”

The cameras will be phased in over many months. We are told the first station will be Central.

As for the policy in the works, I want to praise Capt. Jim Jones and Lt Bradley Morefield for working with the HPOU to get a policy in place that