$4,000 and a 200-day delay – what are they hiding?
Houston police say it will cost more than $4,000 and take at least 220 days to produce videos of nearly two dozen incidents in which officers called federal immigration agents to the scene of a police response this year.
Officials with the Houston Police Department’s records division blamed the delay on a backlog. But an expert in the state’s open-records law says the agency could be running afoul of the Texas Public Information Act by taking so long to produce information.
“The city is obviously slow-walking the request,” said Joseph Larsen, a Houston lawyer who specializes in freedom of information cases. “I think you could sue … on the grounds that such a slow turnaround is equivalent to refusal to release the records.”
Mayor John Whitmire, who has repeatedly praised the transparency of his administration, said he saw no issue with the delay.
“I am satisfied they are doing the best they can,” Whitmire said of the police department’s response. “The chief and I are committed to transparency.”
Houston police working with ICE agents?
City leaders for months have said they aren’t cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an immigration crackdown led by President Donald Trump, but internal police documents reviewed by the Houston Chronicle have called those claims into question.
The Chronicle filed a records request for body camera footage of each of those 22 incidents and was told that while the department planned to turn the records over, it would take 220 days to do so. The response would also come with fees totaling over $4,000.