HOUSTON – Things got heated at Tuesday’s Houston City Council meeting, a day after the State of Texas threatened to pull more than $110 million in public safety grants over the city’s recently passed ordinance limiting when the Houston Police Department can call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The fallout is already affecting operations within the Houston Police Department.
Houston Police Officers’ Union President Doug Griffith told KPRC 2 Reporter Re’Chelle Turner that officers have been instructed there will be no overtime until the situation is resolved.
He said funding tied to the dispute has effectively been frozen.
The move could have significant implications for staffing and response, as overtime is often used to fill gaps and support major events and daily operations.
Heated exchange
On Tuesday, Griffith himself spoke during public comment at the meeting, criticizing the recently passed ordinance.
“Don’t tell me we don’t have bigger issues in this city, we can’t get our water cheap, we cannot get our heavy trash picked up, we can’t get a fair housing market, we’ve got all kinds of issues that city council should be dealing with, and no, we’re worried about this, 74 traffic stops last year. It’s not about politics for us, its about making sure our people are safe,” Griffith said during his comments.
At this point, a voice can be heard in the background. It is unclear what exactly was said.
“You don’t know what those warrants are for Mam. You have no clue what those warrants are for. That guy could have beat his wife 3-4 times and they filed on him and sent him back. That may be what that administrative warrant is for, you don’t know.”
Griffith then spoke to District D Councilwoman Carolyn Evans-Shabazz.
“You keep talking about how you support law enforcement, don’t ever let me catch you saying that again because you last week, you said we were racist,” Griffith claimed.
“You are really out of order,” Shabazz responded.
“I may be,” Griffith said. “See that is the attitude right there that you give people that live in this city. And you sat there last week, your comments were that we were racially profiling people, I take offense to that and about 5400 officers take offense to that, so don’t sit there and say that you support us, because I disagree with you.”
Shabazz responded, telling Griffith his behavior was inappropriate.
“Your behavior has been really inappropriate and I hope the other officers don’t act and speak as you do, because that may be why we have a problem here,” she said.
Ultimately, Griffith and Shabazz apologized to each other later on in the meeting.
KPRC 2 will update this story as more information becomes available.