softheart
05-17-2003, 04:23 PM
May 17
TEXAS:
We endorsed Mayor Lee Brown when he ran for office and cannot say enough
good things about Police Chief C.O. Bradford. Both men are dedicated
public servants and have done outstanding things for the community. We are
proud of them.
But the situation involving the Houston Police Department Crime Lab
greatly disturbs us. Both Mayor Brown and Chief Bradford need to take off
their gloves and get to the bottom of the scandal that is rocking the very
foundations of HPD and the Harris County Criminal Justice System.
It is time to stop passing the buck.
Reporters have been unable to pen Mayor Brown down on whether he supports
an independent probe of the crime lab scandal. While Brown continues to
offer excuses, and Bradford keeps his mouth shut, the scandal continues to
escalate.
The time for silence has long past. Innocent men are behind bars because
of tainted DNA evidence from the HPD crime lab. Most of them are Black and
poor. And we cannot help wonder whether there is more to the scandal than
DNA testing.
When we elected Lee Brown as Houston's first African_American mayor, we
never dreamed he would enter his last months in office with a tainted
police department that he, himself, once headed as chief. We expect that
Chief Bradford's silence is at least partly due to the mayor's dictates.
It is time for Lee Patrick Brown to start thinking about the legacy he
will leave when he departures from the Third Floor of City Hall on January
1, 2004, only seven short months away. We do not want a tarnished legacy
for our city's first Black mayor. But the mayor's legacy is in his own
hands.
One independent means of investigating the HPD crime lab would be for
Harris County's state district judges to create a special Court of Inquiry
with an independent prosecutor wno is independent of the Harris County
District Attorney's Office to conduct the probe. We fully support a Court
of Inquiry. Another means would be for a Harris County Grand Jury, using
the Harris County District Attorney's Office, to conduct the
investigation.
Should Mayor Lee Brown not immediately move toward creating an independent
investigation, either a Court of Inquiry or Harris County Grand Jury
should launch an investigation. If Brown and Bradford do not want District
Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office involved in the investigation, then the
mayor should take the matter into his own hands by appointing a Blue
Ribbon Panel, composed of ordinary citizens, to conduct the investigation.
They could report back to City Council and the District Attorney's Office,
on the outcome of their investigation.
We are not talking about the Ken Lays , Kirbyjon Caldwells, and Greater
Houston Partnership types when we say ordinary citizens. We are talking
about everyday Houstonians whose families and friends are caught up in the
Criminal Justice System. We truly want the panel to be "indendent."
The mayor has simply been unclear about where he stands on an independent
probe.
"I am not opposed to anything that would take care of the problem" he
recently told reporters..
Then what is he waiting for?
"We're not waiting," the mayor insists. "The chief (Bradford) is doing a
number of things right now to help address the problem."
"So, I am not opposed to it if there is some type of process that would do
a better job. I am certainly willing to listen to it," Brown told the
press.
Then why isn't Lee Brown, as mayor, initiating the move for an independent
investigation?
Again, Brown has an answer for every question.
"I get briefed on this on a regular basis," he said during a recent press
conference. "I have confidence in our police chief. He is managing the
problem -- moving ahead to make sure that the problems that have surfaced
there are being addressed. And that is where we are right now."
Brown, several weeks ago, indicated he had no plans to recommend anything
other than Bradford "managing the problem."
So just how is Chief Bradford "managing" the problem. His public relations
office isn't exactly forthing coming on the subject. But that is nothing
unusual for the PR operatives at police headquarters, especially when it
comes to dealing with Forward Times and other inquiring publications.
Jim Young, a spokesman for the mayor, told Forward Times that Mayor Brown
supports a Court of Inquiry and has called upon the U.S. Attorney
General's office to review all convictions based on tainted HPD crime lab
evidence. Thus far, Young revealed, the AG's office has not responded to
the mayor's request. Young added that Bradford has ordered an Internatl
Affairs Probe of the crime lab.
It is time to stop passing the buck, back and forth, between the mayor's
office and police headquarters when it comes to responsibility for
corruption in the HPD cime lab. The buck stops with Mayor Lee Brown. Let
us make it clear, Mr. Mayor: There is a very serious problem at HPD which
did not begin yesterday. It is a corrupt, crooked, practice that has been
eating away at our Criminal Justice System for years. And we cannot help
but think that the crime lab is only the tip of the iceberg.
Accountability seems to be as much of a problem at HPD as the crime lab
scandal. And if Mayor Lee P. Brown does not do something about it, NOW,
then the district attorney, Texas Attorney General, or U.S. Justice
Department should act with all deliberate speed.
As we said, innocent human beings are rotting away in prison -- and some
are likely on death row -- based on tained DNA eveidence from the HPD
crime lab. The buck has been passed for too long. The time to act is NOW!
(source: Editorial, Forward Times)
TEXAS:
We endorsed Mayor Lee Brown when he ran for office and cannot say enough
good things about Police Chief C.O. Bradford. Both men are dedicated
public servants and have done outstanding things for the community. We are
proud of them.
But the situation involving the Houston Police Department Crime Lab
greatly disturbs us. Both Mayor Brown and Chief Bradford need to take off
their gloves and get to the bottom of the scandal that is rocking the very
foundations of HPD and the Harris County Criminal Justice System.
It is time to stop passing the buck.
Reporters have been unable to pen Mayor Brown down on whether he supports
an independent probe of the crime lab scandal. While Brown continues to
offer excuses, and Bradford keeps his mouth shut, the scandal continues to
escalate.
The time for silence has long past. Innocent men are behind bars because
of tainted DNA evidence from the HPD crime lab. Most of them are Black and
poor. And we cannot help wonder whether there is more to the scandal than
DNA testing.
When we elected Lee Brown as Houston's first African_American mayor, we
never dreamed he would enter his last months in office with a tainted
police department that he, himself, once headed as chief. We expect that
Chief Bradford's silence is at least partly due to the mayor's dictates.
It is time for Lee Patrick Brown to start thinking about the legacy he
will leave when he departures from the Third Floor of City Hall on January
1, 2004, only seven short months away. We do not want a tarnished legacy
for our city's first Black mayor. But the mayor's legacy is in his own
hands.
One independent means of investigating the HPD crime lab would be for
Harris County's state district judges to create a special Court of Inquiry
with an independent prosecutor wno is independent of the Harris County
District Attorney's Office to conduct the probe. We fully support a Court
of Inquiry. Another means would be for a Harris County Grand Jury, using
the Harris County District Attorney's Office, to conduct the
investigation.
Should Mayor Lee Brown not immediately move toward creating an independent
investigation, either a Court of Inquiry or Harris County Grand Jury
should launch an investigation. If Brown and Bradford do not want District
Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office involved in the investigation, then the
mayor should take the matter into his own hands by appointing a Blue
Ribbon Panel, composed of ordinary citizens, to conduct the investigation.
They could report back to City Council and the District Attorney's Office,
on the outcome of their investigation.
We are not talking about the Ken Lays , Kirbyjon Caldwells, and Greater
Houston Partnership types when we say ordinary citizens. We are talking
about everyday Houstonians whose families and friends are caught up in the
Criminal Justice System. We truly want the panel to be "indendent."
The mayor has simply been unclear about where he stands on an independent
probe.
"I am not opposed to anything that would take care of the problem" he
recently told reporters..
Then what is he waiting for?
"We're not waiting," the mayor insists. "The chief (Bradford) is doing a
number of things right now to help address the problem."
"So, I am not opposed to it if there is some type of process that would do
a better job. I am certainly willing to listen to it," Brown told the
press.
Then why isn't Lee Brown, as mayor, initiating the move for an independent
investigation?
Again, Brown has an answer for every question.
"I get briefed on this on a regular basis," he said during a recent press
conference. "I have confidence in our police chief. He is managing the
problem -- moving ahead to make sure that the problems that have surfaced
there are being addressed. And that is where we are right now."
Brown, several weeks ago, indicated he had no plans to recommend anything
other than Bradford "managing the problem."
So just how is Chief Bradford "managing" the problem. His public relations
office isn't exactly forthing coming on the subject. But that is nothing
unusual for the PR operatives at police headquarters, especially when it
comes to dealing with Forward Times and other inquiring publications.
Jim Young, a spokesman for the mayor, told Forward Times that Mayor Brown
supports a Court of Inquiry and has called upon the U.S. Attorney
General's office to review all convictions based on tainted HPD crime lab
evidence. Thus far, Young revealed, the AG's office has not responded to
the mayor's request. Young added that Bradford has ordered an Internatl
Affairs Probe of the crime lab.
It is time to stop passing the buck, back and forth, between the mayor's
office and police headquarters when it comes to responsibility for
corruption in the HPD cime lab. The buck stops with Mayor Lee Brown. Let
us make it clear, Mr. Mayor: There is a very serious problem at HPD which
did not begin yesterday. It is a corrupt, crooked, practice that has been
eating away at our Criminal Justice System for years. And we cannot help
but think that the crime lab is only the tip of the iceberg.
Accountability seems to be as much of a problem at HPD as the crime lab
scandal. And if Mayor Lee P. Brown does not do something about it, NOW,
then the district attorney, Texas Attorney General, or U.S. Justice
Department should act with all deliberate speed.
As we said, innocent human beings are rotting away in prison -- and some
are likely on death row -- based on tained DNA eveidence from the HPD
crime lab. The buck has been passed for too long. The time to act is NOW!
(source: Editorial, Forward Times)