Name: No Houston police contract talks planned, dimming reform possibilities, advocates say
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No Houston police contract talks planned, dimming reform possibilities, advocates say

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Mayor Sylvester Turner appears unlikely to renegotiate a contract with Houston police officers, a setback to advocates who saw negotiations as a means to reform the Houston Police Department and make bargaining meetings available for public viewing.If no new deal is reached, an “evergreen” provision will kick in to continue the current contract and give HPD officers a 2 percent raise next year.The city’s contract with the Houston Police Officers’ Union is set to run out at the end of the year. If either side wants to cancel the contract and renegotiate, the agreement requires 90 days’ notice to the other party, which means the latest time for notice would be the beginning of October.Union representatives and city officials met just once this year before contract negotiations were upended by the spread of COVID, said Douglas Griffith, the union’s vice president.“We’re in no hurry,” Griffith said. “It’s not like it’s going to run out tomorrow. We have plenty of time.”As law enforcement has come under intense scrutiny after the murder of longtime Houston resident George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer earlier this year, criminal justice advocates in Houston and across the country have targeted union contracts as one way to reform departments. , pointing to actions in Austin that led to significant reforms to that city’s police department.Houston reform advocates:More from St. John Barned-SmithIn the months since Floyd’s death, cities and states elsewhere have enacted significant reforms such as those in Austin, where the police budget was trimmed, or in Colorado, which passed legislation curtailing qualified immunity (which protects officers from many legal actions). In Houston, however, city council passed a new budget increasing the allocation for police by $20 million, driven by a contractually agreed raise that took effect in July.After Floyd’s death, Turner created a 45-person task force and asked members to come up with recommendations within 60 days to reform policing in Houston. The move drew backlash from police reform advocates — including members of the task force — who accused the mayor of stalling and said previous groups had already studied the issue extensively.Turner has rebuffed such criticism by saying old recommendations fail to take into account recent developments.Police contract negotiations in Houston are not public, unlike the city’s public collective bargaining process with the firefighters’ union. Neither Turner nor police union officials have expressed interest in opening future bargaining sessions.“If you want a bunch of Lookie-loos just hanging out, then you’re going to have people in there pounding their chests and trying to make a name for themselves,” Griffith said. “And that’s not what this is about. We’re trying to come to a resolution that benefits the city and the officers and that’s all this is about.”At-Large City Councilmember Letitia Plummer, who pushed for reforms within the city’s budget earlier this year and has inquired publicly and privately about the union contract, said it is important to have the negotiations now.“We have so many issues that need to be dealt with, (so) it’s definitely a concern,” Plummer said. “We can’t wait. We can’t.”The councilmember said she is interested in digging into liability insurance, the rules that give officers time before they are questioned about potential misconduct, and training, among other issues. She has also been pushing to include HPD in a national database on use of force, as well as an ordinance outlining the release of body camera footage in police altercations. Both topics are expected to be addressed in the report from the mayor’s task force.In July, Plummer asked Turner if she could serve on his team for the union negotiations when, or if, they do happen. She did not hear back from the administration.“I know it’s late in the game, maybe at this negotiation we won’t be able to issue it publicly,” Plummer said. “We have to ask the administration to put people in the room that can be a voice for our community, that truly want reform to happen, and can find a balance.”RELATED:The new task force has yet to issue its report, which was expected earlier this month.Critics worried the task force would produce watered-down recommendations that, if issued months later, would generate less backlash than during the tumult that followed Floyd’s death. The news of the stalled contract negotiations caused several to renew such concerns.“It seems like Turner once again is kicking the can down the road,” said Ashton Woods, president of Black Lives Matter Houston.On Tuesday, a city spokeswoman said Turner was waiting to review the group’s recommendations.“Negotiations regarding the union contract have not been scheduled,” said Mary Benton, Turner’s director of communications.Turner has declined to provide information about his strategy or plans for the negotiations, including concessions he hopes to win from the union, and if he will attempt to make the process more transparent for the public.Reform advocates called on Turner to press ahead with negotiations as soon as possible — and to make the proceedings more transparent.“The current contract tilts policies in favor of problem officers and against the public interest. It creates barriers to accountability, transparency and civilian oversight of Houston police,” said Nicholas Hudson, a policy strategist with the ACLU. Earlier this summer, the organization put out a 30-page report, “Justice Can’t Wait,” calling for changes to how police are questioned during misconduct investigations and ending rules that only give departments 180 days to investigate some misconduct allegations.Griffith noted those protections are codified in state law, and said union members would be loath to vote for a contract that would strip those rights.“We don’t plan on changing state law,” he said.Jasper Scherer and Dylan McGuinness contributed to this report.st.john.smith@chron.com

Mayor Sylvester Turner appears unlikely to renegotiate a contract with Houston police officers, a setback to advocates who saw negotiations as a means to reform the Houston Police Department and make bargaining meetings available for public viewing.If no new deal is reached, an “evergreen” provision will kick in to continue the current contract and give HPD officers a 2 percent raise next year.The city’s contract with the Houston Police Officers’ Union is set to run out at the end of the year. If either side wants to cancel the contract and renegotiate, the agreement requires 90 days’...

No Houston police contract talks planned, dimming reform possibilities, advocates say

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