The plan that led to the arrests of hundreds of teenagers at Kmart, Sonic

KHOU TV Houston ^ | August 24, 2002 | By Jeff McShan

[Dog Gone]

"Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact"

08/23/2002

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

HOUSTON (KHOU) -- With parents still fuming over the arrests of hundreds of teenagers for trespassing, 11 news has learned the chief, himself, was apparently in on the planning for Operation E-racer.

Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford made it clear this week that the raid on Westheimer would be thoroughly investigated. Hundreds were arrested in a sting operation set up to curtail street racers and trespassers.

But many have filed complaints saying the arrests were unjust. People like Emily Demmler. "I was handcuffed. I was put in the back of a van," she said. "And I sat in a jail cell from 4:00 to 9:00."

Monday night Chief Bradford called for an investigation of the controversial crackdown. He wanted to know who was in charge? What instructions were given to officers? And why were arrests made instead of issuing citations?

Who was in charge? It turned out to be HPD Captain Mark Aguirre. He told 11 news that he was surprised the chief had so many questions about the raid. "It was my understanding that Chief Bradford was in the loop," said Aguirre. "I assume that. Nothing of this magnitude would escape his attention."

Friday night 11 News obtained an interoffice correspondence, which appears to back Captain Aguirre's beliefs. The memo is the plan for last weekend's raid. It was sent to Chief Bradford on May 13, months ago.

In the correspondence Captain Aguirre explains to the chief the proposed solution for the problems in that area and why issuing tickets would not work.

Aguirre says, "Simply issuing citations has had little or no impact. By arresting individuals observed violating local, state or federal laws and towing violators' vehicles, law enforcement will have more of an influence over the individuals' future behavior."

Yesterday most, if not all, the officers involved in the raid were told to report to police headquarters where they picked up a set of over 20 questions. They'll all have to answer the inquiries about what happened last weekend, such as who was in charge. The questions came from HPD's Internal Affairs Division, which is investigating along with the Houston's Office of Inspector General.

[niki]

Do you know of any break down in the ages of the arrestees?

From the Kmart/Sonic raid there were 278 arrested, 42 juveniles were cited for violation of curfew.

Leaving 236 adults arrested.

[Dog Gone]

Plus another 25 the night before at the other fast food restaurant.

[Dog Gone]

You're not skeptical. Your mind is already made up, even without knowing the facts. There are other words to describe that.

[niki]

I think you are taking your personal experience and applying that to this situation. The situation is not the same.

[Dog Gone]

It sounds to me as if Aguirre was the driving force behind the raids, but Chief Bradford, and probably our esteemed Mayor also knew about them.

And what's the deal with a City Councilman being along for the raid? You have to assume that it was common knowledge among them as well.

Aguirre is going to be the fall guy for this, and the rest of the crooked politicians and police supervisors who went along with it are hoping like hell that Aguirre keeps his mouth shut and won't implicate them as well. Look for Aguirre to suddenly end up with a million dollar house somewhere in the Rockies before this is all over, courtesy of the crime bosses who really run this city.

[Area51]

Where do I send the bill when I screw up? I pay for my mistakes, the individuals in charge should also personal pay for their’s! Stop wasting my money!

We need a system where government is responsible, or we need a system where no one is responsible. This is just what GW Bush is fighting with the Congress about Federal Security workers, the ability to fire someone for mistakes. A foreign concept for Government!

47 posted on 8/24/02 12:14 PM Pacific by Lockbox

Ever heard of a Recall Petition? Start one against the Mayor and Chief of Police TODAY. Call the news organizations that are reporting the abuses, give them a address and phone Number to contact, and you can bet some of the Victims will be contacting you.

Get their personal stories in the Press, even if you have to write the press release and send out yourself. Get a few dozen of like minded folks to start picketing the Police Station or City Hall.

If you Citizen Q. Public don't demand action, their won't be any. This will all be swept under the rug in a few weeks, with a Clintonian type "I feel your pain, Mistakes were made" speech.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. And more to the point in a free country, when I'm out and about I don't have to justify to officialdom my presence in a public place or even in a mall that's open to the public. Its none of their business. If the police think I've broken a law, its within their authority to arrest and imprison me but by the same token it stands to reason that mass arrests of people who happen to be in a mall is decidedly un-American. Unless the police have a good reason for locking up all the people they caught I'd expect the City Of Houston to be hit with a lawsuit for false arrest, kidnapping, and false imprisonment and it serves liberal thugs like Lee P. Brown right.

[avenir]

Police in my city recently "busted" a teen-racer confab in a Wendy's parking lot. Adorable as large groups of teens are, they were driving off business...not generating it. I don't think crowd/nuisance control is a sign of a coming putsch.

[niki]

And what's the deal with a City Councilman being along for the raid?

Every time I think about that guy I can't stop laughing.

It is starting to sound like all the people who need to go down won't. Probably Aguirre and some street cops, maybe.

I hope the media stays on this.

[Dog Gone]

If this was just about driving off crowds of teens, I wouldn't be terribly upset, although I think the arrests can not be justified under current Texas law. It's the innocent people who happened to be in the same parking lot to do business with the establishments there who were summarily arrested as well that has my goat.

But, as a matter of interest, the owner of the Sonic said that he made $12,000 a night off the crowd which hung out in the parking lot. They were good for his business, and it was his parking lot.

[HiTech RedNeck]

a bunch of whining law breakers

It's been pointed out that the legal conditions for a trespass may have never taken place (i.e. the property owners did not affirmatively consent to the no trespassing signs the police posted). If so, then look at who the law breakers were.

[niki]

ACLU. Says it all.

Raid went to 'hell in a handbasket' Officers say Kmart bust was flubbed

Link: What the Police had to say about the raid. If you haven't read it, it might be helpful to do so.

[niki]

Djarum, niki, could you enlighten tallhappy

Hey, you picking on me because I from California? :)

I provided the link to 'What the Police said', I don't think anything else well matter.

[em2vn]

If Bradford is as incompetent as he appears, he may be in the running for the Washington D.C. chief of police position.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Well I understand the situation. Back in the day I did the same cruising up and down Westheimer(stayed away from Montrose, though) as a teen and college kid. Know all about that scene, its being going on for decades, and understand what a problem it can become. I sympathize with the property owners, and have no problem with a police crackdown on the rowdy elements of the post-midnight loitering. It IS a problem.

But this police raid wasn't simply going after the rowdy elements. I had the same initial reaction as you two did. But go back and read some of the prior threads on this, this was a great overreaction, didn't discriminate in the least between the punks and innocent patrons of all ages, with children, etc. Something went very, very wrong, and an earlier thread indicated that this Aguirre chief was antsy to take over and make a statement. He sure did. Arrest first, and ask questions later. And the Sonic owner did resist much of their efforts that night, shocked at the unwise treatment of the innocent customers. HPD arrested the baby with the bathwater.

Yeah, there are the Massillion-type idiots here that cry "jack-booted thug" every time an officer sneezes, and they make me angry, too. But in this case the police did grossly overreact. Occassionally the police are in the wrong, much as I hate to admit it. I urge you to read several of the earlier threads on this. It isn't the usually story of rich kids trying to get mommy to bail them out, or trumped up bogus civil-rights abuse charges by drug dealing ex-cons.

[HiTech RedNeck]

ACLU. Says it all.

Even a blind pig sometimes gets an acorn. I know of no "conservative" counterpart (shameful to say) to take up the cudgel when clear mass police abuses, like these appear to be, occur. Unless the ox gored is religious freedom, ACLU is the only game in town for something like this.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Not necessarily. I remember when we easily could get near a thousand kids together in a Houston lot on a weekend night, and with the growth of the area, closure of teen clubs, and how these things ebb and flow, a couple thousand can and does occur. And it DOES get rowdy, especially in the last several years(thankyou moral relativists). I think it would have been a good idea to go in and arrest the troublemakers they could identify, would be easy to find underage drinking, dope, etc. in the crowd. A highly publicized arrest would have done a good job of sending a message. That's what I thought originally happened, and I started out defending this raid.

But of course, they went far beyond that, arresting anything walking on two legs. Got children in the car? Too bad! Overreaction and bad policing. Rare, but occassionally it does happen, and this seems to be one of those exceptions.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I don't think we can mention enough that the mayor is "Former Houston Police Chief" Lee P. Brown. He had to have known about the raid, and if he bungles the handling of the aftermath, should be held accountable. Now to be fair, I can't fault him if he knew about the raid but didn't know that it would be bungled so badly. But he hired the current chief, and likely knows the character of the police leaders involved. The fish rots from the head down, and Lee Brown has been a fish out of water for a long, long time.

[sweetliberty]

You missed the one about the cops putting up their own "No Trespassing" signs.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Yes, yes, yes. There have been NO reports of arrests at that scene for dope, for disorderly conduct, for littering, for reckless driving, for anything but this "trespassing" whose status is, to put it charitably, far from legally clear (i.e. did KMart or Sonic ask for the notices to be posted). This kind of bungled bust can foster nothing but more contempt for the boys in blue, and more taxpayer costs for Houstonians. BUH-RILLIANT EINSTEIN MOVE, GUYS! "Houston, we have a problem!"