HOUSTON – The top cop in Humble is being required by city leadership to answer their questions.
The action was made public in a city council agenda sheet posted online for Thursday evening’s meeting. The item appears near the bottom of the rundown and specifically references an executive session focused on “personnel matters – Police Chief and City Manager.”
This comes after the city conducted a recent survey into the police department’s personnel, according to City Manager Jason Steube.
In an email to 2 Investigates, Steube also confirmed that the meeting will take place behind closed doors.
“The results of the survey will be shared with the City Council and the Chief of Police in executive session on Thursday night,” he wrote.
For now, citizens of Humble — who fund both the police department and city leadership — will not have a clear picture of the personnel matters prompting the meeting.
We asked Steube whether a third party would be brought in to conduct a further review or investigation of the department, but he said he could not comment.
He did, however, confirm to 2 Investigates that during the internal review, a complaint involving the police department was received. No further details were provided.
We left messages for Chief Dan Zientek with members of his department and city leadership, but the chief was out of town attending a meeting.
If the chief responds before Thursday night’s council meeting, we will post his comments.
UPDATE HUMBLE PD CHIEF SENDS STATEMENT:
On Wednesday morning Chief Dan Zientek emailed KPRC 2 Investigates expressing gratitude for having reached out to his department. In a lengthy statement Zientek said the employee survey was standard procedure for incoming fire and police chiefs, “I look forward to receiving the feedback and continuing to serve our community,” said Zientek. Zik The chief so referenced a 90% positive response from the community in the past year.
In his statement, Zientek did not make any reference to the complaint into his department the city confirmed to us on Tuesday.
We have also requested an interview and are awaiting to hear back from the chief.
UPDATE: Humble PD Chief Releases Statement
On Wednesday morning, Humble PD Chief Dan Zientek emailed 2 Investigates expressing gratitude for having reached out to his department.
Zientek said the employee survey was standard procedure for incoming fire and police chiefs.
The statement read:
“I look forward to receiving the feedback and continuing to serve our community."
The chief also referenced a 90% positive response from the community in the past year.
In his statement, Zientek did not reference the complaint into his department the city confirmed to us on Tuesday.
We have also requested an interview with the chief, and we are waiting to hear back.