My personal experience serving 31-years with the Houston Police Department

Subsequent to having served as an infantryman in my beloved United States Marine Corps and attending undergraduate studies, I applied for and entered the Houston Police Department’s Training Academy in 1979. At that time, the Houston PD was a hard-charging, respected, law enforcement agency, the hiring process was stringent physiologically, psychologically, ethically and morally. According to an academy instructor, for every seat in my academy class there were 19-denied applications for employment. Personal ethics and morality were the primary focus of the hiring process; these personal attributes verified by incredibly stringent and intimidating preliminary interviews and a thorough polygraph examination; this, culminating with an extensive “background check” involving months of door-to-door investigative interviews of the applicant’s family members, former employers, coworkers and friends. The primary concern of those reviewing applications for employment with the Houston PD was, “Have you done anything that would embarrass and shame the integrity of the Houston Police Department?”

WOKENESS, Political Correctness, Liberalism, Progressivism, Moral Compromise, creeps into the Houston Police Department…

In 1983, with the advent of the Kathy Whitmire Mayoral ship in Houston and the Affirmative Action hire of Police Chief Lee P. Brown, the Houston PD began a downward spiral in morality, ethics, reverse racial discrimination via Affirmation Action mandates. With the advent of “Neighborhood Policing” protocols and the implementation of an overzealous Internal Affairs Division, the Houston PD incrementally and methodically morphed into a pacifist, WOKE, police agency where “good” officers were those who avoided negative citizenry contacts/interactions; in other words, those officers who did NOTHING proactive thereby avoiding internal affairs complaints and subsequent investigations were appreciated and praised; this enforcement pacifism and impotency becoming necessary protocol as “due process protections” concerning citizenry or supervisory allegations of policy infractions were absent; this absence of due process protections to buffer unfounded, spurious, complaints/allegations, mandated, as a matter of occupational survival, that the officer “prove his innocence” beyond ANY doubt; therefore, an investigative conclusion/disposition of “unfounded” (no evidence of wrong doing, culpability) was essential if said officer was to avoid a permanent record of misconduct allegations, internal investigations having been conducted, placed in his/her personnel file. By department policy, subsequent a specific number of misconduct complaints (of any disposition than perhaps “unfounded”) in a specified time frame resulted in a “Personnel Concerns Committee Review;” this serious review of an officer’s complaint history could possibly result in termination of employment with the Houston Police Department; the Personnel Concerns Panel/review being an alternative way for the HPD to terminate an officer’s employment via bypassing employment protections that shielded officers from retaliatory motives of a biased and compromised police administration.

This overzealousness by HPD’s Administration and their “yes” boys in the Internal Affairs Division gave way to law enforcement impotence, apathy, laziness, a valid fear of engaging in any form of “proactive policing” essential to law enforcement effectiveness; therefore, the criminal thugs in Houston became and are now emboldened as police routinely “look the other way” and refuse to engage the criminal element due an absence of support from the upper echelon of the Houston Police Department; consequently, the citizenry suffers and the Houston PD is shamed due mismanagement and policies that stymie law enforcement effectiveness. As one “old timer” patrolman would tell his rookie trainees as he parked his patrol vehicle in a remote wooded area facing on old, ragged, tree away from public view: “You see that old tree over there, that’s MY tree…I come here everyday I’m on duty and I watch that tree grow and if you desire to complete twenty-years with this police department, you’ll find you a tree and watch it grow.” In other words, do nothing, say nothing, see nothing, take your calls-for-service, write your reports, turn your shop (patrol vehicle) in on time, go hope…keep your mouth shut, that’s how you complete twenty successful years with the Houston Police Department…sad, but true.

My experience having rejected the advice of the old training officer…

Subsequent 8-years of patrol duty involving assignments in uniformed street patrol and motorcycle patrol (Solo-Motorcycle Patrol Unit), I transferred to the Helicopter Patrol Division in 1989 where I served just under two-decades, 18-years as a commercial helicopter patrol pilot. During those two-decades in helicopter patrol, I had lost touch with the street officers I patrolled with in Houston’s Downtown Districts during the early 1980’s; therefore, I was unaware of the embarrassing, liberal, WOKE, Progressive, changes that were manifesting within the Police Department; WOKE policies and agendas that warred against true, effective, police patrol work.

I routinely heard the “rumors” from patrol officers who visited the helicopter hangar at Hobby, but I found their accusations and complaints difficult to believe; then, in 2009, due to a heated disagreement relevant to proper protocol over the recovery of a downed helicopter, I ran afoul of a new, arrogant, supervisory administration assigned to the Helicopter Patrol Division and ultimately requested a transfer back to patrol duties in 2009. Returning to uniformed patrol duties was indeed an eye-opening experience subsequent 19-years in the Air Support Division. What those patrolmen had been complaining about when visiting the helicopter hangar, the compromise with LGBTQ; the fear and concerns relevant to performing productive proactive police work and investigations; an overzealous Internal Affairs Division; an out-of-touch Police Administration, was indeed TRUE. The Houston PD of 2009 was NOT the Houston PD I had worked for over two-decades earlier as a patrol officer on the streets of Houston. Progressivism-liberalism had taken its toll. I am so very thankful to have experienced a few years of actually performing police work before Progressivism-Liberalism destroyed the job I love so very much.

My Houston PD had become a bastion of LGBTQIA++ immorality; DEI-Affirmative Action discrimination fostered racial tension; a lowering of hiring standards allowing the mentally, morally, ethically and spiritually ill to receive employment with the HPD as homosexuals, transsexuals, lesbians, were welcomed into the HPD and employee morale throughout the Department seriously faltered; it is my understanding that certain applicants with “misdemeanor criminal histories” were permitted to apply for employment with the Houston PD as well; one male supervisor wanting to transition into a “female” reportedly had a penis-tuck surgery performed in the orient and returned to the Houston PD as a supervisor in drag…I personally observed this tall, rather large “man” in a dress as a “supervisor” of officers! The Houston Police Department had become something I no longer recognized.

I voiced and demonstrated my disdain for LGBTQ sexual deviancy in the ranks of the HPD. I voiced my disappointment with my Department’s compromise with LGBTQ while forced to attend mandatory in-service training classes (sensitivity training), queer deviance stemming from mental and spiritual illness that was wearing the uniform, the badge, a weapon and allowed to police the streets of Houston, this queer deviancy was permitted in supervisory capacities as well. My disdain and objections to my Department’s compromise with LGBTQ in the ranks of the HPD resulted in subtle forms of backlash/a subtle uneasiness from the morally and ethically compromised police Administration. My “Assistant Chief” over the Helicopter Division was a lesbian; my Captain in patrol, subsequent my transfer from Helicopter Patrol, was a lesbian and rumored to be the lesbian lover of my former Assistant Chief. The subtle friction between the HPD and me was exacerbated by my concerted efforts to enforce City Ordinance 30-3 (Noisy Vehicles Generally) and Texas, 547-604 (Muffler Required), subsequent my transfer back to patrol duties in 2009.

Motor vehicle noise enforcement, the straw that broke the camel’s back,

My patrol beat assignment in West Houston had, within its jurisdictional boundaries, a very popular “biker bar” known as “The Dam Ice House” (a LOUD, thug inundated, vulgar, drunken, biker bar that I’m proud to have assisted in its closure) and just outside my jurisdictional boundaries was another biker bar in Harris County, located on FM 1093/Westheimer Road extension. The abusive biker thugs who frequented these unscrupulous biker bars were/are operating illegally LOUD, illegally equipped, motorcycles with noncompliant aftermarket exhaust mechanisms (not for road use exhausts-racing environments only as per the US EPA) emitting noise energy output that, in certain scenarios, was audible for one-statute mile under hard acceleration, dangerously intrusive, daily quality of life destroying, noise energy and illegal exhausts absent motorcycle muffler labeling mandates obviously in violation of the protective requirements of CFR 40 Part 205, City Ordinance 30-3, Texas 547-604; to my amazement, no one, absolutely NO ONE, was doing anything about the unacceptable vehicular NOISE situation in Houston. Why are vehicular NOISE thugs allowed to bully and abuse societies most innocent with impunity and “law enforcement” looks the other way? Yes, we’ve already discussed that…

Vehicular NOISE violations as lucrative probable cause,

During my enforcement of vehicular noise violations, I discovered that employing illegal vehicular noise as “probable cause” for a stop and investigate to be the most lucrative form of probable cause available to the average patrol officer; this, as I was able to clear untold numbers of active warrants (felony and misdemeanor), arrest for license suspensions, cite insurance and equipment violations. Why does law enforcement refuse to employ dangerous, intrusive, “vehicular noise” as probable cause for a stop and background investigation of the operator and passengers when applicable?

Houston’s Leadership cowers in the presence of criminal bullies…

Illegally LOUD, illegally equipped, motorcycles, trucks, automobiles, inundated my beat assignment in west Houston, the citizenry, especially the most vulnerable to the illegal vehicular NOISE, were and continue to be audibly assaulted day and night, 24/7/365. My enforcement efforts to bring peace and lawful order, a quiet daily quality of life, to my beat was met with incredible rebuttal, hatred, vulgar and life-threatening comments, by thug LOUD bikers, while “biker rights organizations,” such as the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), interceded on behalf of their donors in Washington DC; later, the MRF published lies about my retirement status in their newsletter seeking to disparage my professional reputation; The “Texas Motorcycle Rights Association” did their part by writing a letter to Houston’s Mayor Parker requesting that I be removed from enforcement (Letter in attachment below); the local news media in Houston allied with the criminal LOUD biker thugs; the biased media waited outside my traffic court to interview bikers subsequent their adjudication relevant to illegal NOISE; business owners in Houston sympathized with the biker thugs fearing a loss of income/revenue if my enforcement initiative deterred biker access to retail establishments; biker thugs were and are glorified as some form of “patriot” when in reality, they’re bully thugs who abuse children with illegal NOISE. My 99.9% conviction-rate on all vehicle noise emissions violations adjudicated in the municipal court system mandated extra HPD security in my traffic court; this, out of concerns for my personal safety during testimony due to threats of biker retaliation; consequently, my immediate supervision ran scared and confused; my Department’s upper echelon cowed to the concerns over liability; the Mayor’s Office and the City Council ran scared of the biker thugs who rallied en masse at City Hall on two different occasions, threatening the City Council and Mayor with retaliation if my Constitutionally sound enforcement efforts were not stopped. I was prohibited by order to not attend the biker rallies, protests, at Houston’s City Hall to explain my reasoning for enforcing applicable vehicular noise laws. The upper echelon of the Houston PD refused to meet with me one-on-one to discuss my vehicular noise enforcement initiative and the Constitutionally sound reasoning for same. Cowards all.

I had never, in my 31-years of service to the citizens of Houston, TX, seen such cowards and pacifists and compromised law enforcement personnel as I did during my years of vehicular NOISE enforcement in Houston. To my amazement, some of my most avid haters and detractors were law enforcement personnel who compromise their oath of office and their personal integrity by riding and driving illegally LOUD vehicles off duty, some were members of local law enforcement biker gangs. Sworn, accredited, law enforcement officers who dress, walk, talk, like thug biker gang members off-duty while they wear a badge and gun and patrol the streets of Houston, Harris County as law enforcement officers on duty. These law enforcement biker thug organizations/gangs are present throughout the United States and nothing is done by their individual department leadership or the Federal Bureau of Investigations to stop the thug conduct of those who ride illegally LOUD, act and talk like biker trash, while employed as a public servant. This is unacceptable!

My patrol Sergeant, who drove an illegally LOUD racing Corvette to 6AM roll call, ordered me to STOP enforcing the vehicular noise laws to which I rebutted and challenged his unlawful order with legal precedent, Arron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008); Aguilar provides legal precedent relevant to law enforcement’s right to stop and investigate loud motor vehicles based solely on an officer’s professional opinion as to the vehicle’s illegality due a defective or illegal exhaust mechanism. Houston’s “City Legal” Department overturned the Sergeant’s unlawful order; this legal victory over my immediate supervision drove an unforgivable wedge between my NOISE enforcement efforts, my immediate supervision, the police administration; both, the Mayor’s office and the City Council; after all, who was this old patrol officer possessing the audacity to challenge the omnipotence of Houston’s Police Administration and supervision? How dare he! My enforcement of applicable vehicular noise laws was lawful and Constitutionally sound; therefore, HPD opted to place me on desk duty to STOP my vehicular noise enforcement initiative seeing that I refused to stop citing and incarcerating, whenever possible, those who abuse the citizenry with unlawful vehicular NOISE energy.

The culmination of the shame I felt for serving a Department that compromised its integrity with the deviant immorality and mental illness of LGBTQIA++; the unfairness of DEI; having had my promotion to sergeant stolen through Affirmative Action mandates and having had the blatant reverse discrimination upheld by the 5th Circuit; having had lesbians placed over me in supervision in two separate divisions within the HPD; watching my immediate supervision, my Police Administration, the Mayor’s office, the City Council, run pathetically scared from biker rights organizations and cower to the threats from thug LOUD bikers in Houston; after having been repeatedly placed on desk duty pending LOUD biker’s spurious allegations/complaints and the Administration’s cowardliness and refusal to stand with me and support my lawful efforts to provide intercession for the vehicular NOISE beleaguered citizen’s in Houston; this, when audio and vehicle dash camera video evidence existed to nullify the allegations of untruthful bikers as “unfounded;” finally, my poor wife who had tolerated the stress, the harassment, the impotence of Houston’s leadership, we had enough of the pathetic, pacifist, nonsense; therefore, I honorably retired in 2011 with a broken heart remembering what my Houston Police Department was in 1980 and what it had become as of 2011 via Progressive WOKEISM. Cowards all. Houston, Texas has become the Sodom of the South, exemplified by its Montrose neighborhood; unfortunately, the Houston PD has become a morally compromised version of exactly what Progressive-WOKE Houston deserves as its Law Enforcement entity. 31-years of service culminating in sadness and regret.

In closing, 

My professional recommendation to any young, aspiring, man or woman seeking an honorable and fulfilling career in law enforcement; especially those who honor Jesus as LORD. DO NOT seek employment in a liberal, politically blue, WOKE, pacifist, compromised, municipality, county or state law enforcement community. If you desire to enter into law enforcement, do your homework, read reviews, talk with the officers of the jurisdiction in which you seek employment. If you’re going to dedicate your most productive years to a police department, make sure it is a department that represents your values, your ethics, a department that is truly concerned for the safety, welfare, daily quality of life, of the citizens you seek to serve with your life, your family, your precious time on this Earth. Serve in a department that “has your back” during those years of policing unpredictable, challenging, scenarios. Do not compromise YOU, your ethics, your family, for a paycheck.

With sincerity,

Rickey D. Holtsclaw, Houston PD/Retired

Also see: The Truth about LOUD motorcycles, automobiles, trucks, the Police won’t or can’t tell you: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/03/10/the-truth-about-loud-motorcycles-the-police-wont-or-cant-tell-you/

Motorcycle Noise Enforcement 101: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/09/12/motorcycle-noise-enforcement-101/

Loud Biker Comments (vulgarity warning): https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/04/loud-biker-mentality-1949-v-21st-century/

ADR Grievance with Houston PD/Bikers and NOISE: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/adr-grievance-with-houston-pd-bikers-and-noise/

Motorcycle Riders Foundation – half truths – obfuscation – rebutted: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2025/04/21/motorcycle-riders-foundation-obfuscation-half-truths-rebutted/

Letter to Police Chief – Houston – Noise Enforcement Assistance: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/letter-to-chief-mcclelland-inre-to-motorcycle-noise-enforcement/

TMRA Letter to Houston Mayor Parker: Harassment by Officer: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/loud-bikers-letter-to-mayor-parker/