District Attorney Announces Community Action Plans

Formed With 60 Member Transition Team

 

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg unveiled her Community Action Plans Tuesday regarding officer-involved shootings, bail reform, and other matters, following months of collaboration with 60 community leaders and experts who made policy recommendations for her administration.

 

“We listen to the community,” Ogg said. “We are evidence-based and data driven, but it is important to know how the community wants tax dollars spent to enhance public safety.”

 

Shortly after taking office in January, Ogg built a Transition Committee to reflect Harris County’s diverse population and bring together a mix of experiences and perspectives to guide her administration’s priorities in criminal justice reform.

 

Former Houston Police Chief C. O. Bradford; Thurgood Marshall School of Law professor Lydia D. Johnson; and former Sheriff Adrian Garcia, were among those who participated on the transition teams.

 

Others included grass-roots activists; small-business owners; health-care providers; academics; lawyers; judges,; politicians and former law-enforcement officers.

 

“Direct community engagement is crucial to building trust between the district attorney and the people,” Bradford said. “Harris County will be a safer place and Kim Ogg will be a better district attorney as a result of her genuinely seeking participation from the community.”

 

The Transition Team was organized into specialized committees that identified issues, reviewed data’ and made recommendations.

 

They probed such areas as officer-involved shootings; evidence integrity; equality; immigration; bail-bond reform, mental health; diversity; technology and victim’s rights.

 

The Transition Team recommendations are posted on the Harris County District Attorney Web site, as are the HCDAO responses to the recommendations.

 

###

 

 

Officer Involved Shootings/Civil Rights Committee Members:

Co-Chair – C.O. Bradford, former Houston Police Chief; former Houston City Council Member

Co-Chair – Paul Looney, Lawyer, head of commission that reviewed Waller County Sheriff’s Office after Sandra Bland’s death

Member – Dr. Linda Bell Robinson, former HCDAO prosecutor, former HPD Officer

Member – Frances Valdez, Lawyer, Houston GLBT Caucus Trustee

Member – Michael Harris, Lawyer, former HPD Officer

Member – Frank Garcia, Community Organizer at My Brother’s Keeper

Member – Glen Austin, Lawyer

Member – Judge Kristin Guiney, 232nd District Court, former HCDAO prosecutor

 

Evidence Integrity Committee Members:

Chair – Sandra Guerra Thompson, Alumnae College Professor of Law, Director; Criminal Justice Institute

Member – Christel Wommack, Ph.D., Neuroscience

Member – Paul Morgan, Lawyer

Member – Alvin Nunnery, Lawyer

Member – Anthony Graves, Chairman Anthony Graves Foundation

Member – Lloyd C. Saunders, Lawyer

Member – Jay Aiyer, Lawyer, Professor at TSU

 

Equality in Justice Committee Members:

Chair – Dr. Lydia Johnson, Associate Professor of Law at Thurgood Marshal School of Law

Member – Hon. Jolanda Jones, HISD Trustee, Lawyer, former Houston City Council Member

Member – Janis Bane, Director at Galveston Co. Community Supervision and Corrections Department

Member – Zaf Tahir, Houston Planning Commission, Lawyer, Businessman

Member – Katherine Neill, Fellow in Drug Policy at Baker Institute of Public Policy, Rice University

Member – Tammie Campbell, Executive Director Honey Brown Hope Foundation

Member – Gareth Morgans, Director of Communications, Houston City Council At-Large 2

 

Immigrant and International Communities Committee Members:

Chair – Claudia Hogue-Ortega, NALEO Texas Director

Member – Jessica Chen, Lawyer

Member – Penny Shaw, Lawyer

Member – Oscar Hernandez, United We Dream

Member – Frances Valdez, Lawyer, Houston GLBT President

Member – Nishan Khan, Realtor, EmergeUSA

Member – Jannette Diep, Executive Director of BPSOS-Houston

Member – AJ Durrani, retired petroleum engineer

 

Bail Reform Committee Members:

Co-Chair – Juan Guerra, Lawyer

Co-Chair – Jay Jenkins, Project Attorney at Texas Criminal Justice Coalition

Member – Tarsha Jackson, Harris County Director at Texas Organizing Project

Member – Carolyn Henry, MS Special Education

Member – Jack Carroll, Lawyer

Member – Anthony Muharib, Lawyer, Owner of Online Bail Bonds

Member – Gerald Wheeler, PhD, Project Orange Jumpsuit

 

Mental Health Committee Members:

Co-Chair – James Horwitz, lawyer

Co-Chair – Adrian Garcia, former Harris Sheriff, former Houston City Council Member, 23 year veteran of HPD

Member – Maisie A. Barringer, Lawyer

Member – Staci Biggar, Lawyer, NAMI Houston Advisory Board

Member – Robert Simon, Asst. Deputy Director Adult Justice Services at Harris Center for Mental Health

Member - Annalee Gulley, Director Government Affairs at Mental Health America of Greater Houston

Member – Penny Shaw, Lawyer

 

Diversity in the HCDAO Committee Members:

Chair – Glen Austin, Lawyer

Member – Carlos Doroteo, Lawyer

Member – Dr. Linda Bell Robinson, former HCDAO ADA, HPD Officer

Member – Judge Kristin Guiney, 232nd District Court, former HDAO prosecutor

Member – Alexius Marcano, Urban & Metropolitan Governance Fellow at Kinder Institute

Member – Ray Shackelford, Lawyer

Member – Gere’ Cole, Lawyer

Member – Patricia Limón de Rodríguez, Director at Edge Creative Strategies

 

Technology Committee Members:

Chair – Josh Verde, Lawyer

Member – Chris Reid, HCDAO Staff

Member – Theodis Butler, Megalith Technologies

Member – Pablo Ormachea, Co-Director at Center for Science and Law

Member – Jeff Reichman, January Advisors

Member – Gary Zallar, HCDAO Director, IST

 

 

Victims’ Rights Committee Members:

Shelley Kennedy Crime victims’ advocate

Anthony Graves Exonerated former Death Row inmate

Betty Gregory Crime victims’ advocate

Dottie Walker Crime victims’ advocate

Jessica Chen Crime victims’ advocate

Ron Goines GLBT activist

Fernando Martinez Crime victims’ advocate

Carrie Ruiz Crime victims’ advocate

 

 

Committees:
 

Officer-Involved Shootings

Evidence Integrity

Equality

Immigration

Bail-Bond Reform

Mental Health

Diversity

Technology

Victims Rights

 

 

Community Action Plans Below (To read or download action plans please click PDF files below)