Community leaders and civil rights advocates are speaking out after a major change inside the Houston Police Department that they say could impact trust between officers and the public.<\/p>\n
Several groups are raising concerns after they say Mayor John Whitmire abruptly announced the closure of HPD\u2019s decades-old Community Affairs Division \u2014 a unit designed to serve as a bridge between police and the communities they serve.<\/p>\n
Community members say the decision came without notice and at a time when the department is already facing mounting scrutiny.<\/p>\n
That includes fallout from the department\u2019s backlog of more than 254,000 suspended or uninvestigated cases, as well as new concerns tied to how local officers interact with federal immigration authorities.<\/p>\n
HPD\u2019s Community Affairs Division has historically played a key role in building relationships across Houston neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The unit focuses on outreach efforts like attending civic meetings, working with community groups, organizing youth programs, and helping communicate information between residents and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
For many residents, those face-to-face interactions are critical.<\/p>\n
Mark Rodriguez, president of the Oaklawn Fullerton Civic Association in Houston\u2019s East End, says his neighborhood has already felt the shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night at the community meeting, we had about 25 residents there. Nobody from HPD showed up,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez shared an email he received in October from an HPD commander stating that officers would no longer attend neighborhood meetings and instead encouraged residents to go to police substation meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I said that\u2019s kind of hard to drag our community up to the substation to be able to hear HPD out,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cThey need to involve themselves in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue is also drawing attention from civil rights groups, who are connecting the division\u2019s closure to broader concerns about immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
Civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen argues that recent actions involving immigration warrants raise constitutional questions.<\/p>\n
He points to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says officers cannot detain someone during a traffic stop without reasonable suspicion of a crime.<\/p>\n
According to Kallinen, an administrative immigration warrant alone does not meet that standard.<\/p>\n
Groups including LULAC, We the People Organize, and the Houston chapter of the National Lawyers Guild held a press conference at Houston City Council on Tuesday and called on the mayor to reinstate the division.<\/p>\n
During a recent news conference on March 11, Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz suggested community engagement efforts are still a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly busy and incredibly important to us to make sure that we\u2019re focused,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cSo community affairs didn\u2019t go away, it\u2019s a hundred percent better. It\u2019s on steroids.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, some city leaders say they were unaware of any issues with the division in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know it was broken, so I don\u2019t know why it needs to be fixed,\u201d said Councilwoman Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, who represents District D. \u201cThis city is too large to not have a community affairs division\u2026 I certainly support the reinstatement of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of now, it remains unclear what led to the decision to shut down or restructure the division.<\/p>\n
Re\u2019Chelle Turner reached out to both HPD and the mayor\u2019s office for clarification on the move and whether the division is being eliminated or replaced with a different approach.<\/p>\n
As of publication, those questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n
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