Mayor John Whitmire
Mayor John Whitmire on Wednesday named the five people who will run an independent investigation into the Houston Police Department’s handling of over 264,000 suspended incident reports.
The committee will be led by a former state representative with a long history of advocacy for victims of sexual assault, a Texas Ranger, a local church leader and two city employees.
“I’ve asked them to collect the data, review HPD, look over their shoulder, make sure the process is transparent and report back to me,” Whitmire said. “I will report back to Houstonians and let them know exactly… how in the world this existed for eight years without someone having the good sense to sound the alarm.”
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The committee investigating the police department will be chaired by former state Rep. Ellen Cohen, who also served as a Houston City Council member from 2012 until 2020. While on council, she championed the effort to eliminate the sexual assault kit backlog. Before becoming an elected official, she was also the president and CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center, an organization that provides services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“Victim survivors are the ones that need to be addressed,” Cohen said, before adding that part of the role of the committee would be to ensure that police “are in fact talking to these survivors.”
The committee will also include Texas Rangers Capt. Jeff Owles, a 21-year law enforcement officer who Whitmire said would bring “investigative tools” to the group, and Rev. T. Leon Preston II, pastor of Yale Street Baptist Church since 2009.
“[Preston] is an outspoken voice from the community who will assure that no one is forgotten in this review,” Whitmire said.
The two city employees on the committee are Christina Nowak, the city’s deputy inspector general of the Office of Policing Reform and Accountability, and City Attorney Arturo G. Michel.
Nowak has already begun collecting data from the police on behalf of the committee, Whitmire said. And Michel was put on the committee to give legal advice and “make sure everything is done in compliance with city laws,” Whitmire said.
“I want Houstonians to know that we are doing everything possible to reveal to them the full extent, the circumstances, and who knew what and when,” Whitmire said, standing next to Cohen and Michel in City Hall.
See here and here for some background. I have tons of respect for Ellen Cohen and I believe she will do a great job. The main question here is not what the committee will find and report on but what will be done about it afterwards. That is the big and potentially very costly question.