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(Houston) -- An investigation has been launched inside the Houston Police Department over a sergeant's comments as his officers were setting out to patrol this year's Gay Pride Parade in the Montrose area.
An Internal Affairs Division (IAD) complaint has been filed by a Special Operations Division officer, who reports that sergeant repeatedly commented about roughing up and arresting gay people, according to one high-ranking officer who was briefed on the investigation.
The allegations and the IAD investigation were confirmed by a second HPD source, who spoke to a reporter on the condition of anonymity.
It's a disturbing and frightening comment,"
said Robert Scamardo, board chair for Equality Texas, a gay rights organization.
The high-ranking officer said the complaint alleges that the Special Operations sergeant was preparing to leave the police station when he was heard uttering comments about roughing up or arresting "fa--ots" before the 2009 Pride Parade.
The complaint was filed near the start of this year's Pride Parade, but the reason for the delay was not clear.
Scamardo says his organization heard of no problems or harassment by police this year, which many saw as progress over the 2009 Pride Parade, when HPD Mounted Patrol officers were accused of harassing spectators and participants.
Plus, Houston had just elected its first openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, who pushed for HPD officers to be allowed to wear their uniforms while marching if they chose. Her policy was first reported on this Examiner page in April.
But that progress is put into perspective by this HPD internal investigation, if you ask Scamardo. He said,
That any police officer with authority would say something like that, especially with supervisory authority to give direction to other police officers....it's even more frightening and disturbing."
The sergeant remains on duty as the IAD investigation progresses. He will be named here only if the investigation results in a public record such as a reprimand or suspension from duty.
The ranking officer who is familiar with the investigation said the inflammatory comments were made in the presence of a gay officer, but that officer did not file the complaint. A straight officer who heard the remarks ended up filing the formal complaint.
There's hope and encouragement in that, that everyone doesn't buy into this sort of mentality,"
Scamardo said of the officer who filed the complaint on his own sergeant. He called that officer stepping forward, "a courageous act."
HPD's Special Operations Division patrols downtown Houston and also handles parade and crowd control for special events all over town. The sergeant who is accused of making the comments has been assigned to that division for about one-year after his prior specialized unit was merged with Special Operations, according to the ranking officer who is familiar with the case.
The veteran sergeant resides in a Houston suburb with his wife.
The use of the term fag--t is offensive and derogatory, but to associate that this is a suspect group that we can go harass and arrest because they are who they are, instead of their behavior....it's terrible. It's beyond offensive,"
said Scamardo. He said Equality Texas has been pushing legislation in Austin that would strengthen Texas hate crime laws. He said that police are reluctant to investigate hate crimes and treat them as hate crimes, and he said any officer who expresses views like this will certainly not handle a call properly if he's dispatched to a hate crime aimed at a GLBT person.
When somebody with this sort of attitude in authority (does this), all it does is legitimize other officers' prejudices. It threatens the security of the GLBT community and anyone who would encounter that officer,"
he said. Equality Texas members started receiving phone calls tonight as word spread about the internal HPD investigation.
This year's Pride parade, organized by Pride Houston, carried the theme, "Pride, NOT Prejudice."
This investigation comes as HPD Internal Affairs Division also deals with another officer's threats to arrest anyone of a certain nationality if they even looked at her 'funny.'
The 9-year veteran HPD Fondren Division officer was placed on desk duty this week, pending the outcome of that IAD investigation. Her comments on her Facebook page were exposed last week by KPRC-TV Local 2 Investigates.
She declined comment when approached by a camera crew.
On her Facebook postings, she wrote that Hondurans were generally drunk, violent, lawless people and she had 'zero tolerance for yall' as she began one evening's shift.
Police Chief Charles McClelland reacted by saying that, even though the department has no policy on what officers can post on social networking sites, her statements may have violated other departmental rules. He said there are HPD rules on the books that ban biased statements in public, any action that brings discredit to the police department, and there is another rule that requires an officer to use sound judgment.
For more info: Pride Houston website
Comments
So, are Texas heterosexuals ike the total scum of the Earth, or what.
Listen up, Texas. You are really shaming all of America with your backwards morals. Truly shaming us.
Are you folks in Texas even human beings at all, or animals?
SHAME ON YOU.
SHAME.
Jill- There are people like this everywhere in the US, not just Texas... There are also decent, law-abiding and caring people in Texas, just like everywhere else. Texas is a bit backwards, but the real problem in the US is the alarming amount of uneducated, redneck religious wing-nuts out there. Our country seems to have a real problem with separating religious views from politics, where other, vastly more religious countries, do not... What's missing from our picture?
What's up with Texas anyway ? Is it just something in the drinking water down there ? OR perhaps this is just another example of religious mental manipulation to hate anyone who is not just like yourself... only this time it is with persons given power by the city and state. NOTHING in America is worse than a Police officer gone rouge or bigoted toward the people he is sworn to protect. The civilian can not even defend himself against the police in self defense. The punishment for wayward & crooked cops should be doubled for laws broken . The citizen has no defense against them as they have absolute authority ..
I think it's unfair to blame Texas as a whole for what crazy people in our state do. Houston has an openly gay mayor, so that alone should tell you that not everyone here agrees with the opinions of the bigoted officer that made the remark. Even people that are heavily against gay rights do not support the use of discrimination by police officers. You can't look at the actions of one person (or even the majority of people), then claim that everyone in the same geographical region thinks the same. I do not appreciate being called an animal for the remarks that someone who I am not affiliated with and lives more than one hundred miles away from me made.
Texas is full of stuff like this - http //delicious/clintjcl/texas - here are some example I've gathered over the years.
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