March 2024. Blues Vol 40 No. 3

HARRIS COUNTY

HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF’S RACE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY GLENN COWAN “I remember the first night of the George Floyd riot in downtown Houston. As soon as I reported to my division, I was ordered downtown immediately to assist. I reported to the Central Patrol Division at 61 Riesner, and the building had a security perimeter like a compound under siege. I remember downtown looking post-apocalyptic, with people running around on the streets with no cars to be seen anywhere. On the radio, I heard officers asking for assistance at a specific intersection, so I headed that way. I saw officers in disarray with no leadership – we were short on supervisors – so I stepped up and eased the panic I saw in some of the officers’ faces. Officers were asking me for directions and looking to me for leadership, and I stepped up to the challenge. As I stood downtown, I was in absolute disbelief. I considered the county and community that I grew up in and wondered, “How did we get here?”. Harris County, for all its problems, has historically enjoyed one distinct characteristic beyond other large cities and counties - lower crime. Why? Because county leadership resembled the citizens’ bi-partisan attitudes toward law and order and their resistance to relinquishing a safe community by submitting to contrary ideologies. I witnessed the chaos in that riot with the realization that it was a byproduct of weak local and national leadership. The riot was indicative of endemic attitudes that were against law and order produced by politicians, judges, and their activist associates. The cameras and journalists were there covering every minute of the riot, but it was just one example of the community’s influence being appropriated by people who didn’t represent or respect them. I later learned that most of the rioters who were arrested that night weren’t members of our community - they were bused in as far as out of state. It was in this situation that 86 The Blues - March ‘24 The Blues - March ‘24 87