Griffith and Chief Diaz:
The Houston Police Union uses the money officers contribute to fund and endorse the candidates selected by its president. There does not even seem to be a committee that makes the decision. At least not based on what the HPOA president stated immediately after a city council vote.
Based on Griffith’s use of the term “Illegals” to describe people, he projects the image of a bigot who seems to hate “Illegals.” Does he hate all brown-skinned people or only the ones who are here undocumented? Is Griffith’s attitude common among police officers in Houston? When you have the head of the police officers’ union using such a term, why would the undocumented community or even those of us who have been here longer than any of the Protestant barbarians that came to the shores of this country and committed the largest genocide in human history, trust the police officers to treat us decently? I guarantee you that Griffith cannot tell the difference between someone here legally and someone here illegally.
Pressed for clarification about whether the union’s pledge to withhold endorsements included all the city council members as well as Whitmire, Griffith said, “That will include the mayor.”
Griffith said the union will also withhold endorsements from the eleven council members who supported the ordinance.
In a stinging loss of a staunch ally, Houston Mayor John Whitmire will not receive the Houston Police Officers’ Union’s endorsement because he voted for an ordinance limiting the police department’s coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday.
“I was blown away by that because originally he was with us and thought it was a horrible idea,” union president Douglas Griffith told Houston Public Media. “All we want to do is go out and do our jobs as police officers. We don’t care about the politics. But then, when the mayor signed off on it, it blew me away. I don’t support any of them that supported this. I just don’t. And moving forward, I will not support them.”
During the city council meeting Wednesday morning, Whitmire voted in favor of a measure prohibiting officers from detaining people or prolonging traffic stops due to civil immigration warrants.