Thursday, May 26, 2011, 06:24AM CST
By Steve Miller
On a mid-June day last year, Houston Mayor Annise Parker stood next to Police Chief Charles McClelland in a press conference and sternly announced the firings of seven Houston police officers in connection with the assault of a suspect in March 2010.
"Seven officers lost their jobs today, and it's our intent that they never work in law enforcement again," Parker was reported as saying. "When our officers behave in an inappropriate manner, they will be disciplined."
Despite the public flogging, records from the state commission that licenses cops show nary a blemish on those officers' records. They could walk into any police department in Texas to apply for a job, and potential employers would never know from the commission records that they were disciplined following the assault of Chad Holley. The high school sophomore and burglary suspect had fled police, but in surveillance video could be seen prone with his hands visible at the time of the beating.
The commission’s certifications don’t track disciplinary infractions, and the Houston Police Department isn’t required by law to report the firings until the officers’ appeals of the dismissals have run out.
Four of the officers (click name for disciplinary letter), Philip N. Bryan, Andrew T. Blomberg, Drew W. Ryser, and Raad M. Hassan, pleaded not guilty to charges of official oppression and violating the civil rights of a prisoner. Their court cases remain active with the next hearing scheduled for June. A lawyer for the Houston Police Officers’ Union, which is representing Bryan in his criminal case, declined to comment.
All but one of the seven officers has appealed or plans to appeal his firing, according to interviews with city officials and records at the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. Here is the officers’ employment status and an update on their appeals:
"Seven officers lost their jobs today, and it's our intent that they never work in law enforcement again," Parker was reported as saying. "When our officers behave in an inappropriate manner, they will be disciplined."
Despite the public flogging, records from the state commission that licenses cops show nary a blemish on those officers' records. They could walk into any police department in Texas to apply for a job, and potential employers would never know from the commission records that they were disciplined following the assault of Chad Holley. The high school sophomore and burglary suspect had fled police, but in surveillance video could be seen prone with his hands visible at the time of the beating.
The commission’s certifications don’t track disciplinary infractions, and the Houston Police Department isn’t required by law to report the firings until the officers’ appeals of the dismissals have run out.
Four of the officers (click name for disciplinary letter), Philip N. Bryan, Andrew T. Blomberg, Drew W. Ryser, and Raad M. Hassan, pleaded not guilty to charges of official oppression and violating the civil rights of a prisoner. Their court cases remain active with the next hearing scheduled for June. A lawyer for the Houston Police Officers’ Union, which is representing Bryan in his criminal case, declined to comment.
All but one of the seven officers has appealed or plans to appeal his firing, according to interviews with city officials and records at the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. Here is the officers’ employment status and an update on their appeals:
- Blomberg - Appeal heard last week. No ruling yet.
- Bryan – Lost appeal.
- Lewis Childress - Received a 15-day suspension on appeal.
- John McClellan - Retired the day after his firing was announced after 38 years with the department. Suspended for 84 days in 2003 in connection with a botched mass arrest of mostly youths in a sting operation on Westheimer, a sanction also not available to anyone looking at his state license. McClellan is eligible for his pension, although Texas Watchdog was unable to verify his pension status by press time.
- Ryser and Hassan - Both have decided to wait until their criminal case is concluded to appeal their firing.
- Gaudencio Saucedo - Reinstated. “The arbitrator reduced his punishment to a written reprimand, but we’re trying to work it out so that there is a 15-day suspension,” said Houston City Attorney David Feldman. Saucedo is currently serving military duty in Afghanistan.
None of the officers have been paid during their suspension and appeal, Feldman said.
If any of the four officers are acquitted of the criminal charges “and we get the wrong hearing examiner, we’re going to owe them a bunch of money, plus they will get their jobs back,” Feldman said.
The appellate process involves a hearing with the city’s police civil service commission in which the officer is usually represented by a lawyer. Nearly 70 percent of all police punishments are overturned or reduced on appeal, the Houston Chronicle reported earlier this year based on a review of almost two decades of records.
In the case of Blomberg, whose family was present at the hearing, “it was a very emotional appeal,” Feldman said. “Blomberg’s argument was, ‘OK, he came in and kicked this kid a couple of times, but are you going to destroy a career over this?’ Of course we argued that it should have no effect on whether his indefinite suspension is upheld.”
But even if it is, his state record won’t reflect the firing. The state law enforcement commission, or TCLEOSE -- which last year had a budget of $3.4 million -- certifies officers and tracks their education, employment history, and awards, but doesn’t keep a record of suspensions or firings, with or without cause. Under service history, each officer’s form lists the title and department where they worked, start and end dates, and length of service.
Bryan, the officer whose firing was upheld, has an exemplary TCLEOSE record, with 19 years at the Houston Police Department and certification as a master peace officer. Two months before the Holley incident, he completed an 8-hour course covering patrol and tactical skills. Over the course of his career, he took required classes on racial profiling, use of force, cultural diversity and crisis intervention. His work at Houston PD is simply noted with a service end date of June 25, 2010.
While state law requires law enforcement agencies to notify TCLEOSE when an officer’s employment status ends, officers who are fired can challenge such an action.
“They can appeal their termination, and the law doesn’t require (the agency) to report until all appeals have been exhausted,” said David Englert, enforcement supervisor at TCLEOSE. Officers who have been fired can apply for work for another agency, and there are no safeguards to prevent them from continuing to work as cops during their appeal.
The law requires police agencies to call applicants’ prior employers, Englert said.
“But I don’t know how much information some agencies release,” he added.
The system and reporting of police discipline are in desperate need of an overhaul, said Houston activist Quanell X, an oustpoken advocate for law enforcement reform who obtained and released the videotape of the assault. The firings announced by the mayor in June, he said, “were just a show.”
“The chief no longer has the ability to fire an officer, to start with,” Quanell X said. “The arbitrators need to be changed, because under the current system, if the police don’t like a particular arbitrator, they can have him changed. They can always find an ally at the arbitration level.”
If any of the four officers are acquitted of the criminal charges “and we get the wrong hearing examiner, we’re going to owe them a bunch of money, plus they will get their jobs back,” Feldman said.
The appellate process involves a hearing with the city’s police civil service commission in which the officer is usually represented by a lawyer. Nearly 70 percent of all police punishments are overturned or reduced on appeal, the Houston Chronicle reported earlier this year based on a review of almost two decades of records.
In the case of Blomberg, whose family was present at the hearing, “it was a very emotional appeal,” Feldman said. “Blomberg’s argument was, ‘OK, he came in and kicked this kid a couple of times, but are you going to destroy a career over this?’ Of course we argued that it should have no effect on whether his indefinite suspension is upheld.”
But even if it is, his state record won’t reflect the firing. The state law enforcement commission, or TCLEOSE -- which last year had a budget of $3.4 million -- certifies officers and tracks their education, employment history, and awards, but doesn’t keep a record of suspensions or firings, with or without cause. Under service history, each officer’s form lists the title and department where they worked, start and end dates, and length of service.
Bryan, the officer whose firing was upheld, has an exemplary TCLEOSE record, with 19 years at the Houston Police Department and certification as a master peace officer. Two months before the Holley incident, he completed an 8-hour course covering patrol and tactical skills. Over the course of his career, he took required classes on racial profiling, use of force, cultural diversity and crisis intervention. His work at Houston PD is simply noted with a service end date of June 25, 2010.
While state law requires law enforcement agencies to notify TCLEOSE when an officer’s employment status ends, officers who are fired can challenge such an action.
“They can appeal their termination, and the law doesn’t require (the agency) to report until all appeals have been exhausted,” said David Englert, enforcement supervisor at TCLEOSE. Officers who have been fired can apply for work for another agency, and there are no safeguards to prevent them from continuing to work as cops during their appeal.
The law requires police agencies to call applicants’ prior employers, Englert said.
“But I don’t know how much information some agencies release,” he added.
The system and reporting of police discipline are in desperate need of an overhaul, said Houston activist Quanell X, an oustpoken advocate for law enforcement reform who obtained and released the videotape of the assault. The firings announced by the mayor in June, he said, “were just a show.”
“The chief no longer has the ability to fire an officer, to start with,” Quanell X said. “The arbitrators need to be changed, because under the current system, if the police don’t like a particular arbitrator, they can have him changed. They can always find an ally at the arbitration level.”
Holley was convicted in October of burglary and received probation. His lawyer did not return a call and emails from Texas Watchdog.
***
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of Houston Police Department downtown headquarters by flickr user J Jackson Photography, used via a Creative Commons license.
Contact Steve Miller at 832-303-9420 or stevemiller@texaswatchdog.org.
Keep up with all the latest news from Texas Watchdog. Fan our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Scribd, and fan us on YouTube. Join our network on de.licio.us, and put our RSS feeds in your newsreader. We're also on MySpace, Digg, FriendFeed, and tumblr.
Photo of Houston Police Department downtown headquarters by flickr user J Jackson Photography, used via a Creative Commons license.
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