`STACKING UP' A CASE IN OREGON'S DEATH

Think of a toddler's set of alphabet building blocks, only imagine
that instead of letters each block has printed upon it one of the
following bits of information:

* An attorney for the family of Pedro Oregon Navarro, who was shot and
killed by Houston police last year, said that he has been told a scale
model of the room where the fatal shots were fired was constructed in
Washington, D.C., for the convenience of federal authorities
investigating the death.

* A 1994 law enacted after the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles
authorizes federal prosecutors to take city police departments to
federal court to force changes in operations and, if deemed necessary,
to install a federal monitor to oversee the reforms.

* The New York Times reported earlier this month that federal
prosecutors, who began an investigation into the 1997 beating of
Haitian immigrant Abner Louima, have found problems with the way that
city's Police Department handles brutality complaints.

* Houston has no Civilian Complaint Review Board or other such panel
operating outside the control of the Police Department, which has come
under criticism for the way citizen complaints against officers are
handled.

Others being scrutinized

* The New York Times also reported that, in addition to the NYPD, at
least 10 other law enforcement agencies across the country are being
scrutinized by prosecutors on the lookout for any patterns of civil
rights violations.

* Houston's Mayor Lee Brown is a former New York City police
commissioner and a former Houston police chief.

* Protesters in Houston recently held a march to mark the anniversary
of the shooting of Pedro Oregon and renew criticism that the six
police officers involved got off too light. They were fired from the
Police Department, but a state grand jury nobilled five officers and
charged the sixth with misdemeanor criminal trespass. He was acquitted
in March.

* A federal grand jury has been conducting a civil rights
investigation into the Oregon shooting for the last six months.

* Police Chief C.O. Bradford recently announced that some time in the
next few weeks he will tell the mayor whether he has decided to resign
at the end of the year.

* Pressure for a Civilian Review Board for Police Accountability was
applied in Austin in February when state Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston
introduced a bill calling for the creation of such a board. The bill
failed to make it into law, but Wilson said he intends to make another
run at it.

* Pressure for creation of a Civilian Complaint Review Board also is
being applied by a local nonprofit organization, Corpus Justice.
Douglas Caddy, a local attorney on the Corpus Justice advisory
committee, said he has had meetings and correspondence with the police
chief, mayor and City Council members in efforts to improve the Police
Department's current civilian complaint system.

Changes on the horizon?

An interesting set of blocks, eh? What can you build from them? A
speculation, perhaps, or a hypothesis? Maybe a conjecture? Looking at
how they stack up, doesn't it seem possible that Houston could see
some changes in Police Department operations before long?

Corpus Justice recently asked Mayor Brown to support the creation of a
Civilian Complaint and Mediation Board.

In a July 2 reply to the organization's president, Marilyn Butler
Head, Mayor Brown responded that he does not support the request
because the Police Department already has two levels of civilian
oversight: A Civilian Review Committee, which reviews completed
investigations and makes recommendations to the police chief, who has
final authority; and the grand jury system.

In New York City, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has bristled at the
possibility that the federal government could appoint an outside
monitor over NYPD on questions of police brutality. City officials and
federal officials were, at last report, continuing to negotiate in an
effort to keep the matter of police department reform from going to
federal court.

The situation here in Houston has not reached the same level that New
York now faces. But, judging from our set of blocks, we do seem to be
building toward it.

(Thom Marshall's E-mail Address Is thom.marshall@chron.com)