Mrs. White has weighed in against Chief Hurtt’s misguided beard policy:
At a time when Houston’s police force is severely understaffed, City Council has ladled out authorization to spend up to $150,000 on outside counsel to fight a lawsuit challenging the Police Department’s no-beard policy. The money will not be well-spent.
[snip]
HPD officials claim that beards, in addition to creating a poor public appearance on officers, interfere with the proper functioning of gas masks, a point the officers dispute. If this is the only sticking point, there have got to be some simple solutions that would make an expensive court fight unnecessary.
Perhaps Hurtt should consult with New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, whose department also bans beards but makes an exception for officers with the skin condition of the Houston complainants. The same is true of Chicago police. Or Hurtt could call Philadelphia, where the police commissioner in 2004 amended policy to allow officers to wear neatly trimmed beards not more than a quarter inch in length.
It’s difficult enough for HPD to find qualified candidates without the focus on beards. At a time when HPD is understaffed, Chief Hurtt’s obsession with beards just seems odd and misguided.
The conclusion to the editorial was amusing:
Houston Mayor Bill White said he’s staying out of the dispute and will not try to micromanage the Police Department. This is one case where the mayor, a veteran litigator with a well-known tendency to micromanage, should step in and mediate a compromise that treats these police officers with dignity and saves taxpayer dollars.
Even though this editorial mostly gets it right, Mrs. White is wrong about one thing — Mayor White hasn’t shown much interest in micromanaging or even macromanaging three areas that have, for decades, been a focus of other Houston mayors: HPD, METRO, and public works. The mayor has indeed micromanaged many aspects of the city — but arguably not three of the most important ones. So we’re not sure that Mrs. White’s man is going to heed her advice on this one. Strangely, HPD and policing just don’t seem to interest him that much.
