Author: /u/UnpopularSpectre

Demand elected officials distance themselves from Gamaldi and the police union.

Houstonians should demand their elected officials take a hard stand against the antagonistic behavior and dangerous influence of Joe Gamaldi and the union he presides. Despite elected and appointed officials signing agreements with the Houston Police Officers Union (HPOU), our community’s government should not allow unions to syphon its special interests against those they are paid to protect.

Although the recent events involving George Floyd’s murder by law enforcement in Minnesota have warranted a countrywide scrutiny of police unions, I will be using the illegal Harding Street raid as the basis of my argument. The Harding Street raid exemplifies everything that is wrong with Gamaldi, the police union, and unchecked law enforcement.

Joe Gamaldi and HPOU defend the bad guys.

On January 28, 2019, Houston Police Officers Union president Joe Gamaldi stood in front of a hospital where four Houston police officers were being treated for gunshot wounds sustained during a narcotics raid. Beside him, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. All of these men expressed solidarity for the officers, but Gamaldi took it a step further by demonizing people exercising their first amendment right:

“We’re sick and tired of having targets on our backs. We are sick and tired of having dirtbags trying to take our lives when all we’re trying to do is protect this community and our families…the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, well just know we’ve all got your number now. And we’re gonna be keeping track of all of y’all, and we’re going to make sure we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers.”

One of those wounded officers, Gerald Goines, is charged with murder, and another officer involved, Steven Bryant, is charged with a felony for tampering with a government record. Houston’s infamous Harding Street raid was one of many situations where police officers operated with impunity to incarcerate and shoot citizens under false pretenses. Goines is accused of lying about a drug purchase to justify obtaining a no-knock warrant that resulted in the murder of Rhogena Nicholas, Dennis Tuttle, and their pet dog.

The Houston Police Officers Union stopped paying Goines’s legal fees after funding his defense for several months, but the other officer who is charged with a felony continues to be protected by the union.

Without getting into too many details about Goines, the media has uncovered his shady past, and district attorneys are scrambling to fix the mess of a cop that has cost innocent citizens dearly by reviewing over 2,000 cases.

Gamaldi has yet to apologize to the victims’ families. He stands firm at calling the victims “dirtbags.”

The truth is ugly.

The uncomfortable truth about the Harding Street raid is that if the officers were not shot, they would continue their illegal behavior for as long as they were allowed to. It took a calamitous event of bloodshed for the officers and their militant rampage to come under the type of scrutiny and accountability being demanded by citizens who have supported the peaceful marches countrywide following Floyd’s murder. However, the Harding Street raid shouldn’t be marred by the prevalent discussion of racism present in many protests regarding Floyd’s murder. The lead officer of Harding Street raid is black, he arrested Floyd in 2004 for a presumably bogus drug charge, and the raid victims were white. Goines was an indiscriminate bad guy who used his authority and the help of other law enforcement officers to terrorize innocent citizens.

What Gamaldi and unions will argue.

You will probably hear Gamaldi and police unions citing statistics of police-involved shootings, how many are “justified,” how many of those shot were unarmed, and anything else to mitigate the fervently negative perceptions of their organizations. But shootings and deaths in police custody should not be the only metrics used to measure corruption and the failures of law enforcement that police unions vow to defend.

First, let’s talk about the word “justified.” Every case that went in Goines’s favor for decades was “justified.” The false information Goines and his partner used to obtain a no-knock warrant was a “justification.” In law enforcement, “justification” simply means a law enforcement officer’s word against yours—or against no one’s. Whether or not that justification is valid is another question—one that Gamaldi will not answer regarding the Harding Street raid.

Gamaldi constantly talks about the 800,000 officers in the country or 5,200 in the city that should not be held accountable for the actions of a few “bad apples.” The thing about bad apples is they spoil the whole bunch. How is it that a bad guy like Goines could get away with sticking people in jail or shooting them based on bogus “single-witness” testimony for decades? Surely there must have been other officers aware of something shady. It didn’t take long for the media to figure that out.

Make no mistake about it; there are other law enforcement officers who are complicit in corrupt behavior. And Gamaldi’s union vows to defend them. Gamaldi and the unions will say accused officers deserve due process as innocent citizens like Nicholas and Tuttle never live to see the opportunity for theirs.

Death isn’t the only thing to worry about when it comes to the bad guys Gamaldi and his union defend. As the DA works tirelessly revisiting all of Goines’s cases and dismissing a huge portion, the damage is done on hundreds of lives that were stained with felony drug charges. Can you imagine looking for a decent job with a bogus felony to your name? Gamaldi will say it’s rare that these things happen, but if one bad guy like Goines could get away with it for decades and damage a community profusely “on his own,” one can only imagine how much damage a few other bad apples are doing as Gamaldi defends them.

Chiefs of police are reviewing department and union relations.

The outspoken police chief Art Acevedo and the MCCA (Major Cities Chiefs Association) released a statement on June 1st calling for a review of contracts and laws with police unions. In their statement:

“…we expect every major city chief to take every action within their legal authority to hold officers accountable. The balance of labor and management is often out of calibration. Contracts and labor laws hamstring efforts to swiftly rid departments of problematic behavior and as law enforcement executives, we call for a review of those contracts and laws.”

The National Fraternal Order of Police deflects accountability.

The National Fraternal Order of Police, which Gamaldi is the Vice President of, released a statement on June 3rd lashing back at the MCCA’s statement. In it, they deflect any responsibility of “problem officers” and pin the blame on departments for hiring them. In their statement:

“I would like to remind Chief Acevedo, President of the MCCA, that a contract is a binding agreement between two parties who mutually agreed on the terms, not a mandate imposed by a labor union as they now assert…I agree whole-heartedly that law enforcement executives should use every appropriate and legal authority to hold their officers accountable. But I must take issue with the MCCA’s fear-mongering. Suggesting that unions are somehow the root cause of these tragedies is simply a deflection from their own failures. The MCCA should accept responsibility for less than effective recruitment and screening practices and they should be willing to partner with police unions as we continue to seek ways to improve policing in America.”

Gamaldi is politically maniacal.

Who knows why Gamaldi is the prototypical, overzealous right-wing personality that likes to grab the spotlight on Fox News, Glenn Beck, the Michael Berry Show, and The Houston Courant to decry Democrats of all levels of government. He is particularly passionate about getting rid of District Attorney Kim Ogg, and he is trying to influence yet another election in his union’s favor. He whines about everything from bail reform to the DA’s office dismissing cases against 654 protestors. A quick look at Gamaldi’s Twitter reveals what he stands for as opposed to what the people of Houston want.

Say what you will about Chief Art Acevedo making national headlines. Whether you like the man or not, he’s appointed by an elected official. If you like him, good. If you don’t, vote for someone to replace him. I’d like to see him and anyone who signs contracts with the union go, but at least he’s starting to rattle the union’s cage.

Unfortunately, Houston is stuck with Gamaldi’s influence for as long as his union’s members vote for him, and the city is stuck with HPOU’s contract until the end of this year. Houstonians did not vote for Gamaldi, yet as stated above, he has too much influence on our government and how it spends taxpayer money on first responders. His influence isn’t his strength; it’s our city leadership’s weakness for letting him at the table.

Gamaldi is a hypocrite.

As much as Gamaldi blames the rising numbers of violent crime in Houston on bail reform and “sweetheart deals” given to violent offenders, he sure is mum on the sweetheart deals his officers get for their brutality. While regular citizens get felony records or prison for assault, his officers get paid time off or desk duty for doing the same. Officers who use excessive force can always count on Gamaldi and his union members to bail themselves out of trouble. (It must be nice to have union members in the department’s internal affairs division!)

He’s against citizens getting second chances while he receives one for brutalizing and incarcerating someone under false pretenses. Gamaldi was a law enforcement officer in New York prior to perverting the Houston Police Department with his presence. As court records show:

“Without just cause or provocation, the defendant [Gamaldi and his partner] then proceeded to direct several racial slurs and insults at the plaintiffs, called him a [n-word], and threatened him with more bodily h arm. When plaintiff demanded to know why he was being attacked, beaten and with guns drawn and pointed at him, the defendant police officers told the plaintiffs to shut up and repeatedly called plaintiff Palmer ‘a [expletive n-word].’

Without reasons or explanations given to the plaintiffs the defendant police officers proceeded to assault and brutally placed handcuffs on plaintiffs.

At the precinct, plaintiff was finger-printed and photographed. Thereafter he was retained in custody against his will for many hours, and falsely accused of firing gun shots while in the stadium as a spectator, although no gun was recovered from the plaintiff.

In an attempt to cover up their said assault, false arrest, battery and false imprisonment of Plaintiffs, [Gamaldi and his partner] issued a bogus summons charging plaintiff Wilson with a bogus criminal offense. The case was subsequently dismiss [sic] for lack of evidence.”

Tell your elected officials to stop signing contracts with unions.

Elected officials signing unpopular contracts is nothing new. Remember the red-light camera contract signed under Bill White? Unpopular contracts that endanger the public should be talking points during elections.

There are a lot of calls for civilian oversight, defunding the police, and some even want to disband departments. We should be promoting civilian oversight boards with actual powers. Defunding or disbanding the police is not something I would support, but Gamaldi should not be at the table requesting blank checks as he fights the firefighters union for city funds. (It’s pathetic that Texas allows police and firefighter collective bargaining while making it illegal for teachers to do the same!)

The unions have no business deciding how taxpayer funds should be used. We elect our officials to make those decisions. However, the unions leverage their funds and networks to influence elections. Furthermore, police unions congregate and pander to the extreme ideology of William P. Barr—the same man who ordered the tear gassing of peaceful protestors for a photo op.

Fortunately, Houston belongs to Houstonians. The vast majority of the 5,200 officers in HPD do not live in Houston city limits. The union, fraternal orders, and whatever networks they take part in do not cast votes unless they live in Houston city limits.

Houstonians should take control of the city from Gamaldi and the outside influences that seek to let bad guys in blue, like Goines, wreak havoc on our community. Houstonians should express their displeasure with the propagation of “justified” crime while the HPOU stops the department and the community from taking action on bad guys in blue like Goines.

It’s bad enough that police unions prevent meaningful changes at the national level, but we can make a difference in our city. HPOU’s contract expires on December 31st, 2020. Let’s make sure our elected officials do not sign it again.

Here’s a good piece on how the current contract works.