Aguirre Booted

HPD fired Mark Aguirre earlier today.

Aguirre, of course, presided over the infamous E-Racer/James Coney Island/Kmart raids that took place last summer and caused the city all sorts of embarrassment (but which had NOTHING to do with Chief Bradford's recent perjury acquittal, despite the confusion of some bloggers on that topic).

Aguirre certainly deserved to be booted, but he is not wrong when he suggests that the powers-that-be at HPD were no doubt pleased to have a reason (finally) to fire him -- that's been clear for a while.

And it's not wrong to think the problems at HPD go a lot deeper than Mark Aguirre. Someone in HPD's chain of command should still answer the question why a relatively low-ranking officer was able to run roughshod over what is allegedly established policy and procedure. But I wouldn't expect the Houston Comical to pursue that very far.

[Posted at 19:24 CST on 01/29/03] [Link]