HPD's Police Week Representatives in Nation's Capital HPOU Board of Directors Executive Board

Texas’ Largest Police Union The Publication of the Houston Police Officers’ Union www.HPOU.org Vol. XLIV No. 6 June 2018 HPD's Police Week Representatives in Nation's Capital HPOU Board of Directors Executive Board Joseph Gamaldi Doug Griffith Ken Nealy Tom Hayes Marco Lopez President 1st Vice-President 2nd Vice-President 3rd Vice-President Secretary [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Board Members Kawanski Nichols Alex Mayo Debbie Lahaie David Riggs Robert Breiding Christian Dorton Steve Turner Director 1 Director 2 Director 3 Director 5 Director 4 Director 6 Director 7 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Bubba Caldwell Joseph Castaneda Rebecca Dallas Rosalinda Ybanez Timothy Whitaker David Vasquez Robert Sandoval Director 8 Director 9 Director 10 Director 11 Director 12 Director 13 Director 14 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Luis Menendez-Sierra Rhonda Williams Frances Dominquez Terry Seagler Don Egdorf Dan Levine Director 15 Director 16 Director 17 Director 18 Director 19 Director 20, [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Thomas Hardin Tim Butler Eric Carr Cole Lester Norma Lazo Ray Hunt Sergeant at Arms Treasurer Parliamentarian Assistant Secretary 2nd Assistant Secretary Past President [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] BADGE& Editorial GUN HPD Stays Out Front with Voice of the Houston Police Officers’ Union Published monthly at no subscription charge its Active-Shooter Training Programs by the: NOTHING BETTER THAN A WELL-TRAINED police force. And nothing brings home this point more than an able response to a lethal crime scene. Houston Police Officers’ Union 1600 State Street, Houston, TX 77007 Phone: 832-200-3400 • Toll free: 1-800-846-1167 Let’s draw some comparisons. While at HPD, Officer John Barnes was well trained in the Fax: 832-200-3470 response to an active shooter. Now retired from the Department, Barnes was serving as E-mail: [email protected] school district police officer in Santa Fe when he followed the playbook when he confronted Website address: www.HPOU.org the active shooter who killed 10 individuals. Legal Department: 832-200-3420 The praise rightfully heaped upon Barnes clearly showed that HPD more than did the right Legal Dept Fax: 832-200-3426 thing a few years ago when it undertook to train the entire commissioned force to run toward Insurance: 832-200-3410 the shooter in these deadly circumstances instead of adopting the pre-Columbine tactic of securing a scene and waiting to react. Badge & Gun is the official publication of the Houston Police Officers’ Union. Badge & Gun is The playbook action Barnes used got him seriously wounded but widely praised for very likely published monthly under the supervision of its saving other lives when he thwarted the teenaged student. The opposite was true not too long Board of Directors. However, opinions expressed ago when a sheriff’s deputy in Parkland, Florida, was branded a “coward deputy” when he by individual Board members or any other writer failed to use confrontation instead of the old laid-back scene security technique. in this publication do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire Board of Directors. Editorial HPD has stayed ahead of most big-city police departments with active-shooter training submissions are welcomed and encouraged. which was required of every officer and implemented many years ago. Now every cadet goes All submissions must be received by the 7th of through this process as a basic requirement for graduation. If new data emerges that calls for the month. refresher courses, you can bet HPD will be at that forefront. ADVERTISEMENT IN THE BADGE & GUN DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, Meanwhile, the Department is scoring points on the civilian front. While some of the SWAT A WARRANTY OR A GUARANTEE BY officers who initially taught the active-shooter training course have become trainers in THE UNION. outside departments as extra jobs, Stephen Daniel, HPD’s senior community liaison, continues to be in extremely high demand as a civilian active-shooter trainer for civic groups, churches and other civilian groups. Since the Parkland shootings, Daniel’s backlog increased POSTMASTER: dramatically. He has 100 trainings scheduled between now and October. That schedule Send address changes to undoubtedly will become even busier. Badge & Gun 1600 State Street Like the SWAT officers in their realm, Daniel has become a recognized leader in the Houston, TX 77007 active-shooter training field – on the civilian side of the ledger. As of May, he had conducted Fax: 832-200-3470 1,219 sessions affecting 55,795 individuals. Those trainees probably spread the word about many of the basics taught in the course. The steadfast Daniel pointed out to the Badge & Gun that the Nov. 5, 2017 shootings in the church at Sutherland Springs stands out as an example of the importance of active-shooter training. No one at the scene of the tragedy had the training. Twenty-six people died. Daniel cites other shootings in recent months in which individuals with what he terms “an instinctive survival instinct” stepped forward like Barnes and confronted the shooter, thus cutting down the fatality rate. HPD’s instincts are being supported more and more by the Houston community every day. Crimestoppers makes its facility available for civilian training on a regular basis. Also, the Stanley Corp. – the tool people – also has made its facilities available to train adults and students about the courage and instincts needed to confront shooters and save lives. We need more active corporations like Stanley to build the training momentum. Fortunately, HPD is further down the road in this crusade than many other policing agen- Important Numbers cies. The Department has proven that better training saves lives and that builds community support like never before. ATO: 713-223-4ATO We need to keep it up as we pray for the full recovery of John Barnes, a well-trained HPD Badge & Gun: 832-200-3400 retiree who will remain “one of our own.” HPOU Offices: 832-200-3400 1-800-846-1167 Insurance Fax: 832-200-3470 Legal Services: 832-200-3420 Legal Fax: 832-200-3426 email: [email protected] ON THE COVER: HPOU Photographer Gary Hicks took many great pictures depicting Police www.hpou.org Week in Houston and Washington, D.C. This one shows the HPD contingent that attended Police Week ceremonies in our nation's capital. See other photos in this edition. Page 1 Badge & Gun • June 2018 The President’s Message Many Rumors to Correct and Opinions to Express about Discipline, the Chief’s Activism, Body Cams and Cases Against Killers of Officers Joe Gamaldi Let’s make something abundantly clear regardless of your position wrong when your camera doesn’t turn on, the blame will be on on political issues and whether you agree or disagree with the chief, technology and not the officer. he should NOT be making political statements in uniform. Of course, the down side is you have to remember to turn it off when If any one of us were to make political statements in uniform, we going to eat or use the restroom etc., but this will ultimately be would be disciplined. We cannot have one set of rules for the chief the safer option for the streets and the disciplinary side of things. of police and a different set for every one of us. The chief must lead We have checked with other departments who have them and they by example and focus on running the Houston Police Department. prefer to not have to worry about activation. In the meantime, we are working on limiting the discipline for activations. I had this very conversation with him Monday morning and let him know how the membership is feeling. We have been in meetings with the department on addressing the disciplinary issues associated with body cameras. The Controlling the Narrative department has agreed with an activation matrix so that your first non-activation with be a written or an SI with mitigating By now most of you have seen the viral video involving a Northeast circumstances, second violation (within six months) would be a day officer on a felony traffic stop. The media attempted to skewer this off, third violation (within a year) four days, and fourth violation officer regarding the stop and how he gained compliance. (within a year) would be 10 days. I immediately jumped on the story to control the narrative that Although we don’t want to see any officer disciplined for not the officer was stopping a stolen car, that the suspects were in activating cameras period, this is a vast improvement from the possession of 80 grams of a white powdery substance and were not all-over-the-scale we have been seeing. In addition, all the minor following the officers instructions. This made for a very dangerous body camera issues of muting and not muting etc., etc., will be situation. We used our social media to call out the media on their handled with an SI. one-sided story and defend our officer. I encourage you all to take a Along with the matrix you will see additional training on body look. The officer will not be receiving discipline for this case. cameras, a policy committee to review and change what we have and constant reminders about activation.

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