The Houston City Council plans to vote this week on Mayor Annise Parker’s plan to have thousands upon thousands of untested rape kits processed by vendors in Utah and Virginia. As Don Hooper points out in a post titled Rape Victims v. The Houston Police Department-The Goal Line, this vote comes on the recommendation of a supposedly “independent” board that is dominated by the very people that caused the problem:
On Wednesday, February 27, the Houston City Council will vote to appropriate the funds to send 6,600 rape kits to Virginia and Utah for analysis. While this is the beginning of a victory for Houston rape victims, it is crucial that unanswered questions regarding the quantity of evidence and quality of analysis are answered. Moreover, all individuals responsible for the horrendous decisions not to test this sensitive evidence must be identified and held accountable. And, the simple fact that the operation of the crime lab has not changed demonstrates the indifference towards justice and the rights of crime victims in our community.
So, how many bites at the apple does HPD get? After twenty years of mismanagement, city leaders have formed a local government corporation that supposedly functions as an independent crime lab. It is ironic that police personnel, including Assistant Chief Tim Oettmeier, appeared at the press conference announcing this new outsourcing program and made the presentation to the Houston City Council. Judging from appearances, it certainly looks like the police department continues to be involved in crime lab operations.
When the new, “independent” local government corporation was formed, a board was created by Annise Parker. Oddly, no forensic experts were appointed to the board. Instead, each board member has political ties to Parker or her supporters. The leader, Scott Hochberg, has absolutely no experience with scientific evidence. During his tenure in the Texas Legislature, his expertise was education. So, even with the local government corporation, nothing has truly changed at the crime lab. Good decisions are made from good information and information coming from HPD is anything but reliable. The past twenty years has proven this true.
In a press release this morning, Councilmember Helena Brown echoes Mr. Hooper’s thoughts:
When Houston City Council formed the Houston Forensic Science Local Government Committee (LGC) in an effort to establish an “independent” crime lab, Houstonians might not have thought it could have amounted to a front for the continued operations of the HPD Crime Lab, but it has. The stated purpose of the LGC is that it would provide an outside assessment, independent of HPD. On February 13, 2013, HPD’s Executive Assistant Chief Oettmeier and Assistant Chief Slinkard gave a report before City Council just barely allowing the LGC chair, the Honorable Scott Hochberg, room to squeeze in at the edge of the podium. The fact that the committee report was dominated by HPD personnel violates the very premise on which the committee was founded.
The issue with the HPD Crime Lab has not been merely forensic testing or the lack thereof, but fundamental and pervasive failures for the past twenty years in the professional culture and competency of the lab’s leadership and personnel. Fixing the failed crime lab must involve replacing the institution that has perpetually failed in its attempts to properly administer it, the Houston Police Department. Leaving HPD involved is unacceptable from both a policy and ethical standpoint.
Hooper and Brown are right. The Houston Police Department should have been completely removed from this equation. In addition, we have to ask why the HPD doesn’t want the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences to test these kits. Not only would it be cheaper in the long run, as Hooper points out, but it would keep the money and jobs here in Harris County, as Councilmember Brown points out:
The City of Houston should give the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences an opportunity to bid on the bulk-testing of the 6,663 SAKs. Houston has the largest medical center in the nation; let’s keep the jobs in Houston, and eliminate the transportation cost for court testimony. If we move forward with the out-of-state vendors it must be for justice’s sake not to “get rid of” the back-log by simply testing to “clear the slate” and do nothing with the results; that is not justice. With the out-of-state vendors’ proposal, the City should guarantee that all test results will be entered into CODIS as soon as each result is available. The City should set up a protocol for the processing of the untested SAKs; all SAKs which are tied to cases already closed should be tested first. By restoring integrity to our forensic testing, we will ensure that justice is served in Houston.
In the end, the key is as Brown states:
By restoring integrity to our forensic testing, we will ensure that justice is served in Houston.
It is a long shot to get council to vote against the mayor because they have shown themselves to be little more than lemmings for her. But thousands of victims deserve to have real justice, not justice done on the cheap to remove a sore spot on the city.
SB Voter says
Great Reporting Mr. Jennings. The public needs to become more aware of the media myths vs. the reality of how their goverment is being run and their tax dollars spent. This is a prime example.
Lou Ann Anderson says
Thanks for this piece, David. Government is running wild because so few people are writing this type of competent account exposing the waste, fraud and abuse connected to officials and their use of our public dollars.