The Chronicle‘s Harvey Rice follows up on his solid reporting earlier this week with an update on the fallout over the $600,000 judgment against HPD in a sexual harassment lawsuit:
Police Chief Harold Hurtt says he plans to insulate his department’s internal affairs investigators from possible meddling in response to allegations that high-ranking Houston police officials have interfered in misconduct investigations.
“One thing I intend to do is to make clear instructions to supervisors and managers in the Houston Police Department that, if they have a question about an ongoing investigation, that they will not contact the investigator,” Hurtt said.
The chief said this week that he will require command staff members and managers to direct questions about internal investigations to the executive assistant chief in charge of the internal affairs division.
Officials who are not involved in an internal probe should not question investigators or use any other means to get information about the case, he said.
Hurtt’s policy change follows a $600,000 verdict against the city in a female officer’s federal lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. The city is appealing the jury award to Beth Kreuzer, the first woman to serve in HPD’s motorcycle unit.
Kreuzer accused command staff members of interfering in her case to shield a well-connected supervisor and punish her and other officers.
Former Sgt. Michael Cox, whose pending lawsuit accuses police officials of retaliating against him for backing the sexual harassment complaint, also accuses HPD brass of manipulating the investigation that led to his firing.
Rice’s reporting and the resulting publicity surely helped motivate Chief Hurtt to address this problem that was left to him from former Chief Clarence Bradford.
