City Council At-Large 4 candidates differ on public safety ideas | #citycouncil

Both candidates in the race for the At-Large 4 seat on Houston City Council believe public safety is a top priority for the city, but they offer different approaches to Houston voters.

Incumbent City Council member Letitia Plummer and her opponent in the Dec. 9 runoff, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Roy Morales believe the Houston Police Department needs more officers to patrol the city’s streets. They also agree investing in community policing could improve the relationship between officers and the communities they serve.

Plummer, however, said she takes a data-driven approach to public safety and is focused on the need for services like mental health crisis and domestic abuse teams the city funded with federal COVID-19 relief. Morales, on the other hand, has pitched himself as being tougher on crime, and has proposed using technology such as artificial intelligence to track down violent criminals.

Morales said he disagrees with some of the positions Plummer has taken on City Council, including the budget amendment she proposed in 2020 to eliminate 199 vacant civilian positions within HPD and redirect $11.8 million toward police reforms. Mayor Sylvester Turner opposed the amendment, which failed.

“I want to protect our citizens, and I think she’s a little bit soft on crime,” Morales said.

“The positions that I take are holistic and preventive and data-driven,” Plummer said. “My approach does not create fear or anxiety.”

Morales hopes his focus on crime will appeal to enough voters as he faces an uphill battle against Plummer in the runoff. Plummer took 47.9% of the vote during the Nov. 7 general election, falling just short of the 50% plus one vote threshold she needed to be reelected. Morales finished with 33.3% of the vote.

Plummer pointed to the city’s ShotSpotter program as an example of how data informs her positions. Plummer initially voted against a $3.5 million contract for the controversial program, which critics have called unreliable, but later acknowledged that early data showed it was effective in one HPD patrol division. Earlier this year, though, she reaffirmed her opposition after the Chronicle obtained data that showed ShotSpotter was delaying police response times without curbing violence.

She also points to her push for apartment inspection reform, which led to the city using federal COVID-19 relief funds to hire more inspectors. She pointed out that the city’s Blue Star Multi-Housing Program is designed to reduce crime by improving living conditions in apartment buildings.

“If we can clean up these areas that harbor crime, it will be a safer place to live,” she said.

Morales also wants to use data to keep Houston safe. His proposals include an analysis of every police officer’s beat, or the area they’re assigned to patrol. The analysis would include looking at crime statistics and response times to determine whether officers have the equipment and resources they need.

Morales suggested using data mining tools to identify crime trends and track down suspects, as well as using DNA from ancestry websites to identify suspects in rape cases. Critics have raised privacy concerns over the use of genealogical data in criminal investigations, particularly because results are typically less reliable than forensic tests done by law enforcement agencies.

Morales acknowledged the privacy concerns related to AI and ancestry websites but believes that identifying crime suspects is more important.

“I worry about civil rights, too, but I worry about our citizens being attacked by criminals,” he said.

Morales said he has the experience to bring crime-fighting technology to Houston because he is a former assistant director and chief technology officer for the Houston Emergency Center. The Chronicle reported in 2009 that Morales was fired from that job, but he maintains that he was pushed out over a disagreement with a supervisor from another city department. He provided copies of emails from April 2005 that showed a supervisor subsequently asked him to remain on-call and represent the city at a security conference until Morales resigned in June 2005.

Both Morales and Plummer have said HPD needs more officers to address a staffing shortage. The department has about 5,200 officers, but the Houston Police Officers’ Union has said it needs 2,000 more to be fully staffed. Plummer said the “bare minimum” is for the city to replace every officer who retires or leaves the department.

Plummer also said it’s important to consider how officers are being deployed. She believes community policing programs could be beneficial because residents may feel safer if they see familiar officers in their neighborhoods. She also believes that familiarity could improve relationships.

“Having police officers in communities, especially communities of color, that they recognize and they know, I believe is important,” she said. “We’ve got to improve the ways in which we have relationships.”

Morales also believes in community policing programs, as well as opening more police storefronts in neighborhoods. He has proposed hiring more civilians for desk jobs within HPD and moving more officers to patrols.

“If we have officers that are behind a desk and they’re fit, then we need to look at putting them out on the street,” Morales said.

One of Plummer’s top priorities if she is reelected is maintaining the mental health and domestic violence teams the city funded with COVID-19 relief funds. She said it would be “devastating” to eliminate or reduce those programs, but believes there are opportunities to fund them through grants.

She is also hoping to find funding for a program that would use private security officers to patrol neighborhoods to discourage break-ins at businesses. Plummer said HPD would oversee the program, and that the private security officers would not be responding to active crimes or trying to catch suspects.

Morales has proposed a similar program, saying that patrol cars could serve as a deterrent and prevent break-ins or other crimes.