# Houston cops are jackbooted thugs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676 "2002-08-20T01:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/1 "2002-08-20T01:00:32Z")
Perhaps you heard about how police in Houston arrested over 400 people in a K-Mart parking lot recently. [http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1539629](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1539629) Now, I can’t stand punk kids who loiter in parking lots and I support whatever police or property owners want to do to get rid of these people. But I think this operation totally went over the line. Have these officers never heard of “probable cause”? I’m not naive enough to think that no one arrested was doing anything wrong, but this article lists several examples that just seem to go against common sense. Normally I find the American culture of victimization and lawsuits reprehensible (see the terrorism lawsuit and the slavery reparations crowd), but I hope the HPD gets hit with several dozen lawsuits regarding this (ESPECIALLY the 10-year-old that was there with her father). ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/2 "2002-08-20T01:46:22Z")
Now that I’ve read the story, I’m also pissed off. At first I thought the people were hanging around while the store was closed; I didn’t realize the arrests were made **while the K-Mart was open for business**. Didn’t it occur to the cops that if they arrested every person in the parking lot, a number of them would be perfectly innocent customers who had simply come to the K-Mart to buy some crap? I don’t think I’d call they jackbooted thugs, but what a stupid, hamfisted operation. I hope they do get sued for false arrest and police harrassment. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/3 "2002-08-20T01:51:07Z")
Actually, now that I read the story again, I see that it’s a 24-hour store; the raid took place around 12:30 at night. Some of the people arrested had just come out of an adjoining Sonic restaurant. So, I’d like to hear the police explain how suddenly being in the parking lot of a 24-hour retail business is criminal trespassing. Doesn’t good police training include knowing how to distinguish between drug dealers and drunken troublemakers, and people buying a carton of milk? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/4 "2002-08-20T01:52:24Z")
Wow, the more things change… or, _Westheimer?_ Does this mean the Long Point K-Mart is closed? Back when I was in high school we used to hang out in a K-Mart parking lot, and the HPD had a worse reputation than LAPD did after the Rodney King assault. Wanna really tick off an HPD officer? Change the name on your drivers license to Jose Campos Torres and see what happens the next time you’re pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/5 "2002-08-20T01:56:38Z")
I used to go there when I was at college. If it’s really true that they arrested a 10-year old girl who was with her father, then there was some serious lack of judgement going on here. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/6 "2002-08-20T02:43:25Z")
Can the HPD say law suits? Many of them? I knew they could. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/7 "2002-08-20T02:45:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Demmler said the only > trouble she’d previously > had with authorities was > being called into the > principal’s office twice in > elementary school for > gossiping. Three strike rule. Send her up for life. Seriously, those cops should be locked up. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/8 "2002-08-20T03:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > \*\*Actually, now that I read the story again, I see that it’s a 24-hour store; the raid took place around 12:30 at night. Some of the people arrested had just come out of an adjoining Sonic restaurant. > \*\* Additionally, the article implies (well, the article I read, anyway - not sure if it’s the same as that linked about) that the cops pulled people _out_ of the Sonic who were simply sitting there eating their dinner! There is no possible excuse for that, if that is, indeed, what happened. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/9 "2002-08-20T03:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > (Emily Demmler, 19, said,) “We asked police why we were being arrested, and they said, `Everybody is receiving equal treatment from the Houston Police Department tonight.’ It didn’t matter what you were doing; they arrested you.” See? They’re not evil jackbooted thugs. They treat everyone equally. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/10 "2002-08-20T04:00:34Z")
K-mart’s been having financial woes for awhile. They keep shutting down stores, job cuts and whatnot. Perhaps this is some new kind of new and bold cost-cutting measure. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/11 "2002-08-20T04:10:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mighty Maximino \* > \*\*I used to go there when I was at college. If it’s really true that they arrested a 10-year old girl who was with her father, then there was some serious lack of judgement going on here. \*\* Yeah, serious lack of judgement by the father. Who in their right might takes a 10 year old to dinner at 12:30 AM? ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/12 "2002-08-20T04:11:34Z")
D’oh, right mind, not might ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/13 "2002-08-20T04:37:35Z")
Someone with a schedule different from yours, apparently, Milroyj. (“Oh, I’d better not take my daughter out to dinner at this hour - we could get randomly arrested!” I’m not seeing it.) ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/14 "2002-08-20T06:08:52Z")
Agreed, matt\_mcl. What if the guy was a shift worker on his day off? The kid’s on summer break; there’s nothing that makes a person a bad parent if a kid keeps the same sleep schedule as they do. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/15 "2002-08-20T10:02:19Z")
Houston cops were pretty damn rotten back in 1960, too. Or at least that was my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/0ea827/32.png) [@Zaphod\_Beeblebrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zaphod_Beeblebrox)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/16 "2002-08-20T10:47:11Z")
More on this. The cops are laying the blame on an particularly stupid captain: [http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1540867](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1540867) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/17 "2002-08-20T11:56:44Z")
Well, as long as they have a scapegoat… ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/18 "2002-08-20T12:31:55Z")
As an Import Racer, I’m used to dealing with a certain amount of blind aggresion from the cops, and being given a bad name by the media. However, this particular round up has finally back-fired. While I’m sad that children were involved, I hope with all my might that this finally sends the message that cops are not omnipotent, or even automatically right. For the record, this sort of bust happens all the time… It’s happened 3 times in the past 2 years at our local In-n-Out. Also note, the cops let Mustangs with glasspacks out, but cite my friend for his CHP certified non-noise polluting exhaust. Cock-Sockets. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/19 "2002-08-20T20:25:10Z")
Truly bizarre. Frankly it’s also rather scary as I’m out in Houston on business just now, staying at Bering Drive just up Westheimer from that KMart. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676/20 "2002-08-20T20:45:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \* > \*\*Truly bizarre. Frankly it’s also rather scary as I’m out in Houston on business just now, staying at Bering Drive just up Westheimer from that KMart. \*\* **Finally** a reasonable explanation of why they scheduled the raids. 😉 (loved the ‘three strikes’ comment, BTW) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/houston-cops-are-jackbooted-thugs/124676.md?page=2)