Local media has been reporting on the handful of essential city employees who did not show up for work as Hurricane Rita was bearing down on Houston.
Most of the 4,700 HPD workforce showed up for work, pulling 12 hour shifts, but about a dozen did not.
Right now, the police union confirms that they believe about 12 police officers, including possibly two captain level individuals, are being investigated for not showing up during the course of Hurricane Rita’s evacuation response efforts.
Officials are also looking at the fire department to see if there were any similar issues with employees not showing up.
Eyewitness News spoke with a firefighters union’s spokeman and as far as they know, firefighters all showed when they were supposed to.
“Most firefighters that were scheduled to work the day following the storm showed up the night before. They did it on their own,” said Houston Mayor Bill White. “They are very dedicated and highly motivated and understood the situation and a lot of them came in the night before. So there really were not any problems with firefighters not showing up.”
And then there’s HEC — the Houston Emergency Center:
But the fire department and the police department are not the only departments the city is looking into. The mayor’s office is looking into the Houston Emergency Center. They believe there was a handful of employees who didn’t show up for work, either, and they are facing indefinite suspension or possible termination as part of disciplinary action.
According to KHOU-11, 14 HEC employees face termination for not showing up to work:
“If people have essential jobs then they need to show up for those jobs,” says Mayor White.
And if they don’t they will be severely punished. Currently, 14 HEC employees are in the process of being fired.
Sgt. Johnnie McFarland is president of the union that represents many HEC employees.
“We don’t want all our personnel to be painted with one brush as being deserters or people that abandoned their posts,” he says, “These people had real world concerns. Everybody was concerned.”
The Chronicle‘s Monica Guzman says 16 HEC employees are under investigation, along with 12-16 HPD employees:
HPD Captain Dwayne Ready said the HPD employees under investigation include officers and civilians considered essential to emergency operations. The extent of disciplinary action — which could include termination — will be determined case by case, he said.
“The department does not approach this as one shoe fits all,” Ready said. “Everybody’s situation is going to be different.”
Among the absent HPD civilian employees were 10 dispatchers , including one who has already been fired, Laud said.
The precise number of HPD employees under investigation is not known, as some divisions are still reporting their absences. HPD employs about 6,000 people, including about 4,800 officers.
All leaves and days off were canceled the weekend of Sept. 23-25 as the department went to emergency mobilization in preparation for Hurricane Rita’s approach, and officers were put on 12-hour shifts. A few employees with extraordinary family obligations or other urgent needs were excused from duty in advance, Ready said.
