"Well, today, history was in the making," said Constable Alan Rosen of Precinct 1 at the time. "We assembled here, all eight elected constables in Harris County, to roll out our unified use-of-force policy... It's never happened before."
That announcement came in the wake of George Floyd's murder. There was growing public demand for accountability and reform in policing. However, four years later, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle reveals that the promised uniform policy was never implemented.
Reporter John Lomax joined Eyewitness News to explain what happened. He said each constable's office in Harris County continues to operate under its own individual use-of-force guidelines.
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According to documents obtained by the Chronicle, seven of the eight precincts require deputies to intervene if they witness excessive force. Precinct 7 is the exception.
While some precincts do limit controversial techniques like chokeholds, none have adopted an expanded or uniform definition of what constitutes "unreasonable force."
Lomax shed light on what may have derailed the original effort.
"The county is a complicated matrix of different elected officials that don't have authority over another," Lomax said. "That includes each individual constable. As far as we could tell, we couldn't really pin it down. What we think happened is it's just difficult to keep policies in line with each other when you don't have someone above you saying this needs to stay the same. Other things like public pressure seem to have lapsed in the years following, which led to it no longer being a priority."
Some people argue that each constable should be able to craft policies that reflect the values of the voters who elected them. Others believe use-of-force rules should be consistent countywide, especially when it comes to life-or-death decisions.
As concerns about policing and accountability continue to shape public discourse, the lack of a unified policy in one of Texas's most populous counties remains a stark example of how difficult systemic reform can be.
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