By Juan Lozano
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Charles McClelland points to the statistics when evaluating his first year as Houston’s police chief: Violent crime decreased in all categories in the Bayou City.
Yet, it was a videotape showing police officers beating a black teenage burglary suspect that grabbed national attention in McClelland’s inaugural year. The video of the March 2010 arrest, released to the media in February by a community activist, resulted in harsh criticism by civil rights and community groups and spawned several town hall meetings where residents described other incidents of alleged mistreatment by police.
“It did hurt the reputation of (the Police Department) and it was an unfortunate and isolated incident,” McClelland told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “It certainly in no way went to the heart and soul of the 5,300 police officers and 1,700 civilian support staff that do a very good job every single day.”
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