Updated 9.24.20

How We Operate

The Pearland Police Department understands that accountability and transparency are key to maintaining community trust. With concerns regarding police departments nationwide and their use of force policies, de-escalation tactics, and racial profiling we understand our community may have questions regarding our practices. In response, this content is intended to articulate the practices of the Pearland Police Department that will ensure our community will always be able to trust their Police Department.

Recruiting

The Pearland Police Department is a civil service agency that understands the importance of recruiting, selecting and retaining qualified law enforcement officers who reflect and understand the mission of the department. Our hiring process is highly competitive allowing us the opportunity to select from the best applicants. The extent to which our hiring efforts are successful largely determines the effectiveness and efficiency of our department. For the future, the plan is to launch a training academy in Pearland to provide a constant stream of highly qualified peace officers for the City and our region.

Training 

We are committed to continuous learning and improvement. 

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) requires every peace officer to maintain at least 40 hours of training every two years for licensure purposes. However, Pearland Police officers complete on average 4x the TCOLE minimum.   

All Pearland police officers are regularly trained in:

• De-escalation tactics
• Crisis intervention
• Lawful and proper use of force
• Mental health training
• Intermediate weapons training

The Pearland Police Department is voluntarily seeking accreditation through the Texas Police Chiefs Association Law Enforcement Recognition Program. Accreditation requires our agency to prove compliance with 166 Texas Law Enforcement Best Practices. Accreditation will assist our department in the efficient and effective delivery of services, the reduction of risk and the protection of individual’s rights. The process is rigorous and the evaluation itself is an improvement process with 166 best practices that must be achieved - since 2006, only 5% of Texas Law Enforcement Agencies have been recognized.

Policies

We have policies and clear expectations in place regarding the use of deadly force, use of force reporting and continuum, and the use of body worn cameras and vehicle dash cameras .  All officers are taught there is a duty to intervene in any situation they feel requires intervention.  The Pearland Police Department prides itself on being proactive with our community policing efforts.

In response to inquiries from the Pearland community regarding our police department's use of force, we are providing a link to the department's policies.

In an effort to provide quality service to our community, we consistently review and update policies and procedures to ensure they are aligned with law enforcement best practices.

The Pearland Police Department prides itself on delivering the best possible service to the citizens of Pearland. If you have witnessed exceptional service or that believe you have been subjected to police misconduct of any type, you are encouraged to report the incident to the Pearland Police Department.

CHANGE THE WORLD
TEXAS RESTORATIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PLAN

Updated 10.13.20

Change the World initiatives proposed by the NAACP that align with the Pearland Police Department:

The NAACP has indicated that addressing issues locally is a powerful way to initiate change that affects the community.   
PPD concurs and believes many changes can be made at the local level. Recent examples in Pearland include increasing the diversity of our Training Advisory Board and changes to our De-escalation and Use of Force policy.  

The NAACP is reiterating it is important for the police and community to work together.
PPD concurs this is vitally important. Recent examples include PPD participation in virtual meetings during COVID, our Citizens Police Academy, our Teen CPA program, and use of social media with the public to name a few. 

The NAACP has proposed adopting a goal of diversity in recruiting.  
PPD concurs with this goal and has recruited from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) as well as colleges and universities with high percentages of minority student enrollment. PPD has used at least 40% minority student enrollment as an initial guideline. Houston area schools we’ve recruited from include: University of Houston Downtown, Texas Southern University, Texas State University, Galveston College, Alvin Community College, and Sam Houston State University to name a few. Recruiting has also taken place at area law enforcement academies and military recruiting events. 

The NAACP notes police officer selection is extremely important.  
PPD concurs. Recruiting, the selection process, and hiring play a vital role in shaping the future of a police department. Beyond the above-mentioned recruiting, Pearland employs a selection process aimed at ensuring a fair process occurs and at not only hiring good candidates, but also specifically aimed at not hiring the wrong candidate. The process includes an initial test provided by a private sector company which has been vetted to ensure it does not create a disparate impact to any group, a physical agility test to ensure basic job suitability, a thorough background investigation, a polygraph examination, an interview panel which includes a diverse group of police interviewers, a psychological exam administered by a Board certified doctor, and a medical screening. 

The NAACP has proposed a training class to help prepare police officers for handling matters of stress associated with racial interactions.   
PPD concurs with this goal and is willing to help.  

The NAACP encourages police agencies to include training staff who relate to the minority community and have exhibited an understanding of and commitment to support that community.   
PPD concurs it is important that all trainers, regardless of race, understand the importance of interacting with all people of the community we serve. To that end PPD has engaged in officers in classes such as Cultural Diversity, Implicit Bias, De-escalation, Crisis Intervention, and Mental Health Peace Officer.  

The NAACP encourages agencies not to train officers to say they fear for their lives unless there is a reasonable belief under the circumstances and then train them on what constitutes such beliefs.   
PPD concurs and provides on over 3 times the training mandated by the State of Texas for police officers. Officers are expected and held to the standard first and foremost of being truthful. Officers are trained to ensure they articulate the need for their actions of force and are trained that force must e Reasonable, Proportional, and Necessary.   

The NAACP wants de-escalation and starting with the least dangerous alternative to be a major part of training.  
PPDs De-escalation and Use of Force policy highlights PPDs commitment to this goal. Every employee of the police department, whether a police officer, jailer, dispatcher, or records clerk attends de-escalation training. This training is required within 6 months of hire. De-escalation tactics are included in ALL firearms, Use of Force, and Intermediate Weapons training. Department policy and training focuses that de-escalation must be used where practical. Department policy and training focus that “Officers/jailers will employ the lowest reasonable, proportional, and necessary level of force based on the circumstances to achieve the needed outcome.”  

The NAACP proposes the need for improved training on bias.  
PPD concurs there should be available improved training on bias. While over 95% of all PPD employees have received training on Implicit Bias, the training itself should be constantly evaluated for improvements.  

The NAACP proposes to allow citizens to have major input in the training curriculum.  
PPD concurs that citizen participation in training curriculum input is valuable and necessary. At PPD 2/3rds of the personnel on the training advisory board are not law enforcement. The board is made up of a diverse set of backgrounds meant to help PPD create a set of curricula focused toward community needs.  

The NAACP proposes that officers should not be trained to kill an intended target.  
PPD trains its personnel in deadly force situations to “…stop the threat”. While this may lead to the subject’s death the goal is to stop the imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, not kill the subject even though that may be necessary. PPD trains personnel that upon control of the situation officers are to work to relieve the subject’s discomfort, render first aid, and summon medial aid. Over 95% of Pearland Police Officers are trained in First Aid including CPR and the placement of a tourniquet to stop bleeding.

The NAACP proposes that higher minimum education requirements should be adopted by police departments.
PPD concurs in part. PPD does not believe that higher education should be a prerequisite for employment, our concern would be the impact on hiring military veterans and groups who have not had the same access to higher education especially due to socioeconomic conditions. However, PPD agrees higher education is important. As such, Pearland provides incentive pay to officers with degrees and has an Employee Educational Assistance program which can help pay for both undergraduate and graduate classes.  

The NAACP proposes a Use of Force Continuum which must ensure there are at least 6 levels of steps with clear rules on escalation.  
PPD has a Use of Force Continuum with 8 levels of force and provides guidance on when each level is appropriate based on the subject’s threat level, the condition of the subject, and other factors.  

The NAACP proposes that at least 8 hours of the mandatory 40-hour training cycle relate to racial sensitivity and related issues.  
PPD concurs it is important to ensure on-going training about racial sensitivity and related issues. As such, PPD has provided its personnel Cultural Diversity, Implicit Bias, Racial Profiling, and Citizen Interaction Training among other related courses.  

The NAACP proposes that departments should publicize policies on the internet.  
PPD concurs this is a good practice. PPD currently has available select policies and plans to have all policies publicized by the beginning of 2021.   

The NAACP proposes additional psychological testing of police officers.  
PPD believes an officer’s wellness both psychologically and physically is important to being able to provide a great service. In addition to every police officer going through a psychological exam at hire, PPD provides additional mental health wellness to reduce stress and improve wellbeing, which should help officers react more appropriately.  

The NAACP proposes a police officer’s past job performance should be scrutinized and that officers who have been convicted of crimes of moral turpitude should not be able to get jobs as police officers.  
PPD concurs that every department should complete a thorough background of applicants for police officer positions. PPD concurs that officers convicted of moral turpitude crimes should forfeit their license and be ineligible to receive a job as a police officer.  

The NAACP believes there are many officers choosing to do the right thing and that they should be highlighted where possible to promote positive behaviors.  
PPD concurs that it is important to highlight positive behaviors. While this is normally done by the police department and select organizations, anyone can take the time to quickly praise a good job. 

The NAACP promotes use of an Early Warning System.  
PPD concurs that automated EWS can be a helpful tool to department administrations, especially in larger agencies. PPD currently employs an EWS through its record management system.   

The NAACP advocates for District Attorneys and Police Departments to scrutinize closely all charges related to resisting arrest, interfering with an arrest and assault on a police officer.  
PPD requires all affidavits of arrest be evaluated by a Police Supervisor before they are submitted to a judge for probable cause. This includes the above offenses.    

The NAACP proposes that any detention of a person should be based on articulable suspicion and such action should be recorded.  
PPD concurs that no detention of a person should be done without reasonable suspicion, police should document why they detained someone.   

The NAACP believes police departments need to enforce perjury laws and that officers found guilty of lying should be punished.  
PPD believes an officer’s truthfulness is paramount to public trust. If an officer is found sustained of untruthfulness, their employment with PPD ceases.  

The NAACP believes use of video and body worn cameras should be mandated with discipline and termination if tampered with.  
PPD concurs that the use of supplied camera systems is important in maintaining public trust and mandate recordings during most citizen encounters. PPD concurs discipline may be necessary and concurs that an officer who is sustained of tampering with video evidence should be terminated.     

The NAACP proposes a national data bank on police use of excessive force and incidents of lying by police and the results of discipline for the same.  
While not specific to this proposal, the PPD does voluntarily participate in the National Use-of-Force Data Collection starting in 2020. PPD would also participate in a data bank as proposed.  

The NAACP proposes the adoption of Garner v. Tennessee into Texas law.  
PPD has adopted the premise of Tennessee v. Garner into its De-escalation and Use of Force policy and trains its personnel to that ruling.  

The NAACP supports changes to Use of Force policies which cover banning chokeholds, requiring de-escalation, requiring a warning before shooting, requiring exhausting alternatives before shooting, creating a duty to intervene, banning shooting at moving vehicles, requiring a use of force continuum, and requiring comprehensive reporting.  
PPD’s De-escalation and Use of Force policy addresses the above in the following manner:  

Ban Chokeholds & Strangleholds – As was stated by Chief Johnny Spires in his letter to the public following the death of George Floyd, chokeholds and similar tactics have long been considered a deadly use of force in our training. Once a deadly force situation arises however, the application of force is evaluated on the necessity, not the tool or technique used to employ it. As such, it is contrary to ensuring public safety to take away a technique in a life and death situation. The policy now specifically reiterates to employees the use of a chokehold or similar tactic is a deadly use of force and will be investigated in that manner. The choice to keep this as a viable technique in a deadly force situation is in line with best practices as outlined by Lexipol. While it is understandable following the gut-wrenching video involving Mr. Floyd that there would be a desire to ban chokeholds, doing so could cause somebody else to be hurt or killed in the future. While the need to use a chokehold as a deadly force option is rare, the fact is there are scenarios where the application of a chokehold could mean life or death. Just as one example, officers and jailers who are in the detention facility do not have deadly force weapons, it would be possible for one to find themselves in a life and death situation and it would not be fair or reasonable to exclude any deadly force technique.  

Require De-escalation – The Pearland Police Department is a firm supporter and believer in the use of De-escalation. In fact, of our 239 current employees whose jobs range from police officer to animal control officer and from administrative assistant to dispatcher, 234 have completed an 8-hour De-escalation class in the last 3 years. While many departments only focus on their police officers, we so firmly believe in the value of this training, our new policy requires every employee of the department to attend De-escalation within 6 months of employment. The new policy specifically requires employees to employ de-escalation techniques where practical.

Require a Warning Before Shooting – Where practical, our departmental policy requires officers to provide a warning, however we also know this may not always be practical. Examples of when this may not be practical could include an active shooter event or an incident where an officer is ambushed and fired upon directly with no time to react. It is a requirement of our De-escalation and Use of Force policy that an officer articulates within their incident report anytime they do not give a warning. 

Exhaust All Other Means Before Shooting – The Pearland Police Department supports this requirement whenever reasonable. The new policy specifically states “Police officers/jailers should exhaust other reasonable alternatives when those alternatives would be likely to achieve the goal of stopping the immediate danger of serious bodily injury or death. Officers/jailers are not expected to attempt to use all other force alternatives prior to deadly force when the situation clearly warrants an immediate need for deadly force as the only reasonable action to stop the threat.” The Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor (1989) says the force used by an officer should be “objectively reasonable” given the totality of the circumstances known to the officer.  

Duty to Intervene – All police officers and jailers have been legally required and have had a duty to intervene subsequent to Federal case law for over a decade. However, our new department policy goes further outlining this duty to intervene, regardless of rank or assignment or employing agency, when an officer or jailer observes an unnecessary or excessive use of force. In addition, any employee of the Pearland Police Department, regardless of job assignment, is required to report any incident they believe to be an excessive use of force to an on-duty supervisor. The on-duty supervisor is required to initiate an internal affairs investigation into the matter and notify their division commander. Any employee who fails to perform any of these duties is subject to termination/indefinite suspension. In addition to the duty to intervene, all officers after using physical force have a duty to provide aid to any person who they have reason to believe has been injured, who has been the subject of an intermediate or deadly weapon/use of force, or who complains of injury. 

Ban Shooting at Moving Vehicle – The Pearland Police Department has banned officers shooting at moving vehicles when such action is taken in an attempt to disable the vehicle for over a decade. That type of use prohibition continues. At the same time, if an officer is justified to use deadly force to stop an immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to themselves or a third person, officers are permitted to use deadly force against a person in a moving vehicle. The permitted action makes sense as there have been far too many instances of people committing deadly acts while in moving vehicles or in using the moving vehicle as the deadly weapon. While the list below are high-profile incidents, these are just a few examples of situations where there was a necessity to shoot at a person in a moving vehicle and limiting an officer’s ability to respond to life-threatening acts puts the public in danger. 

Require a Use of Force Continuum – The Pearland Police Department has always had a Use of Force Continuum. The newest Use of Force Continuum was updated to ensure it reflects the most recent case law as well as training. The new Continuum provides higher levels of description and examples of behavior associated with the use of force option. 

Require Comprehensive Reporting – While the Pearland Police Department has had a good Use of Force reporting system through RMS for the last decade, the new policy establishes improvements to the reporting. Along with clearer delineation of when a Use of Force report is needed, the new reporting also requires reporting of other actions in Incident Reports. The new reporting requirements require a thorough review of incidents and further require a new annual report on Use of Force incidents to be reviewed by the Chief of Police. The new annual report will also be added to the department’s website for public transparency. In addition to the in-house reporting, the Pearland Police Department now voluntarily participates in the FBIs National Use-of-Force Data Collection program.