Houston Po-Po's Behaving Badly-Again

When I was growing up in Houston in the 70's, the Houston Police Department had a recruiting slogan that said 'Wear The Badge That Means You Care'.  Their actions however, were anything but caring to the citizens of Houston.       


In light of the Randall Webster, Joe Campos Torres, and Ida Lee Delaney cases, we snarky teenagers of the period changed it to 'wear the badge that means you kill'. 

The long festering drama between African Americans and the Houston po-po's goes back to the infamous reign of Herman Short as its police chief that got even worse after a May 17, 1967 riot on the TSU campus.that resulted in one police officer killed, a student and a po-po wounded and 488 arrested at Lanier Hall.

The Houston African American community is still angry about a December 31, 2008 profiling incident that resulted in the shooting of Robbie Tolan, the son of former major league ballplayer Bobby Tolan.

Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton was charged with aggravated assault after following Mr. Tolan's car home on suspicion of car theft. According to testimony, the license plate on Mr. Tolan's SUV did not match the plates of the car that was reported stolen.

Tolan was ordered to the ground by the officer and shots were fired in the family's driveway when Mr. Tolan rose up from the ground after he saw Sgt. Cotton shoving his mother. 

Cotton was acquitted by a predominately white jury, and the case is now percolating in federal court.

Bellaire has had a long negative history of racial profiling non white drivers transiting the city on Loop 610 and the major stress that bisect it which it denies.


The local community is in highly pissed off mode again over video that was recently released showing four white Houston po-po's severely beating down 15 year old Chad Holley last year while executing his arrest for a suspected burglary.     The four officers involved, Andrew Blomberg, Phil Bryan, Raad Hassan and Drew Ryser were indicted on misdemeanor official suppression charges and terminated.   Bryan and Hassan also were charged with violation of the civil rights of a prisoner, also a misdemeanor.




 The video from a nearby surveillance camera was brought to light by local activist Quannell X after the HPD and Harris County DA Patricia Lykos (R)  tried to keep it squashed  with a protective order

The video has gotten the attention of Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Al Green, local NAACP chapter president D.Z Cofield, and a host of state officials led by Texas state Rep Borris Miles. .

Granted, no one in the Houston African-American community, myself included, condones what Chad Holley  did and was convicted of, that goes without saying.

But the Houston Police Department's officers are invested with a lot of power, have weapons and we have spent tax money to train them how to handle their duties as police officers responsibly.    If they have problems protecting and serving all citizens and respecting the civil rights of non-whites because of the racism, then they shouldn't be entrusted with those powers and need to be weeded out. 

 "This is about rogue cops abusing our children," Miles said.in a recent Houston Chronicle story.

And that is where the community anger about this case is rooted in.   The bottom line is that the African American community is beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of our kids being used for target practice by rogue cops or white po-pos wanting to relive the good old days of segregation and beating down Black suspects.


Stay tuned, the fun is just beginning.