Thread by @stjbs

*Taps mic* Today, we published our investigation into @HoustonPolice's narcotics division in print.

Read it here: houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice After the fatal Jan. 28 drug raid at 7815 Harding, authorities said the incident was an aberration by rogue officers.

Gerald Goines is now accused of murder & other crimes in federal & state court. His former partner, Steven Bryant, faces other charges.
houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice Over the last 10 months, @keribla and I made more than 100 records requests to HPD. We asked for audits. Tactical plans. employee evaluations. Personnel files. Standard operating procedures.

The department fought us on many of those requests ...

@houstonpolice @keribla They argued it would jeopardize the investigation into Goines/Bryant.

We also asked for a list of all current narcotics officers. They denied that too, arguing against such disclosure because the officers were undercover. ...

@houstonpolice @keribla ... Of course, that would make it *far* more difficult -- and in some cases impossible -- to investigate officers.

We found a list of names on our own.

We used that to request personnel files of 200 officers.
...

@houstonpolice @keribla The Chronicle built a database of more than 150 warrants that Goines and his fellow officers executed.

We found he routinely sought no-knocks. In nearly 100 warrants, he said his CIs saw guns. But he never listed them in the paperwork he filed after executing the raid.
...

@houstonpolice @keribla I backtracked dozens of those warrants, speaking to a lot of people Goines had arrested.

They accused him of sleeping with a CI. That he stole money, guns & drugs.

We couldn't substantiate all those allegations. But some of that came out in court Friday. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice @keribla I found several other people who gave credible accounts of Goines or other officers raiding their home, looking for someone who lived elsewhere.

And using the database, we found other examples of officers who lied or misrepresented casework.
houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice @keribla And using HPD records, we found other officers disciplined for mishandling or losing evidence, miscounting cash, or -- in three cases -- straight up lying on offense reports or about drug buys.

They all kept their jobs.

houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice @keribla One officer acted as a confidential source to *his fellow officer* and then billed HPD $525 for the information. The judge on the case said he "never had anything like this happen" in his court in a 30 year career.
The case got dismissed the same day.

houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

@houstonpolice @keribla Another officer copy-and-pasted language from a months old warrant to a fresh warrant. That came out in a subsequent court hearing.
US Judge Keith Ellison denied the appeal, but said he was "offended" by the officer's conduct and essentially accused him of lying under oath.

@houstonpolice @keribla The judge's comments were ... pointed. Here are some of the pertinent portions.

They make for extraordinary reading.

@houstonpolice @keribla Most of the narcs I called declined comment.

One officer, however, did. He had hit the wrong apartment in a complex in north Houston.
He'd seen his CI walk towards the duplex holding the unit he ended up raiding, but didn't see the CI go inside.

@houstonpolice @keribla So Barbara Ann Thomas -- whose dad was a cop -- finds a narc squad flooding her apartment, guns drawn.
They soon realized their mistake, but the incident terrified her, and her adult son.

They also damaged her door, which cost $600 to replace.

@houstonpolice @keribla Her attorney asked the city to pay for the door.

No dice. They sued, and lost.

The officer who spoke to me, meanwhile, described the incident as one of the "lowest moments" of his career.

He received a day's suspension and remains in narcotics.

@houstonpolice @keribla Just a couple final thoughts -- drug use in the neighborhoods I visited was common.
The people I spoke to would be easy to ignore or discredit. Many had records, or freely admitted to having dealt drugs.

I'm grateful they trusted me. And that my editors gave me time to report.

@houstonpolice @keribla In sum, please read the story.

houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

Then read the followup tomorrow.

@houstonpolice @keribla Oh and 10 months after the raid, Chief @ArtAcevedo has yet to announce the results of his department's internal investigation/case review or give an in-depth interview on what reforms he plans to implement to prevent future abuses.