Ken Nealy - HPOU Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
I don't know how long it's been since our next
guest has been clubbing, but I'm guessing it's been a while.
As matter of fact, I think I might be old
enough to qualify as never having been clubbing. Per se
ken Neely joins this Houston Police Officers union to talk
about after hours clubs and the problems they cause. We
have one dead, six injured, and two different after hours
club shooting scan. What's the attraction with these after hour clubs?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Well, good morning and thank you for having me. Yeah,
I think they are the variety.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Of things that go with it, and kind of like
you said, that clubbing thing, I'm kind of like.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
You as it's not something I'm Even when I was
the anger person, I really didn't club too much. I
think a lot of times those after our clubs right now,
the appeal is, you know, normally a lot of businesses
and a lot of clubs in Texas close at two o'clock.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
These after our clubs, sometimes.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
People go to those after they want to keep having
parties and continue to having fun. Sometimes that these apps
dowars clubs. You got a lot of illegal activity that
takes place a lot of clubs in the Houston area
usually have some type of law enforcement that they're working
at them. These after our clubs, they're typically not any

(01:13):
law enforcement working there as far as security, So you
have sometimes there's some gambling, some narcotics transactions going on,
some prostitution activity has taking place inside of these clubs
because again there's no one really there for the law
enforcement side to.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Type regulate it. And you know, there's lots in the.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Fair like I said in the Faeries activity that goes
on inside of these clubs.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
So where you've got crime, where you've got crime, you'll
have criminals, and where you have criminals, you have problems absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
And unfortunately, sometimes even some of the people that may
be at these after ours clubs, they're not there to
have be involved in any type of criminal activity. Sometimes
people just want to continue, as they say, having a
good time. Sometimes the people that are just there, sometimes
they're innocent victims also because they are I have no

(02:07):
interest of doing anything illegal. But sometimes things happen and
they're just involved. The shootings may happen, and literally they
may be those people that are in the wrong place
at the wrong time, uh, and they may be become
a victims of some of those people who are there
for the other for the wrong reasons.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Ye, ken, after our clubs are illegal? Are they not
here in Texas? You can't. You cannot that you can't
operate it after our.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Club that that is correct as such an illegal operation.
But unfortunately, with the age of social media and you know,
the pop up clubs, and unfortunately they just can pop
up anywhere and so quickly, sometimes.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Right on the eyes of law enforcement.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
We have no ideal and just unfortunately there are so
many places, and unfortunately we can't be every place at
every time.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
So it sounds like you're finding a losing battle against this.
What what can realistically, what can you do to fight this?
If you if you've got a pop up club that
somebody just advertised on social media and people just show
up there as you say you've got you an'll have
the manpower to be everywhere. You just have to respond
to when you get phone calls like this. So it
kind of it's kind of the dog chasing his tail
trying to catch up to this, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Absolutely it is, But we've been pretty fortunate over the years.
Sometimes are just citizens they see the activity in their neighborhoods,
in their area. You see a lot of vehicles, a
lot of foot traffic in areas that not. They're not
a customed to seeing people in their neighborhoods in their
area as our citizens, and so phenomenal to us that

(03:40):
they've just been called this.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
It's an eyesore for them as well. That's not they
won their area.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So whil it's been very fortunate about calling the Houston
Police Department and the other local law enforcement agencies in
the area to help quell this problem in the Houston
City in the area.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, did the judges take it seriously? When when somebody
is charged with up earning and legal club what do
they do? Do they do they get tough on them
or not?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yes, sir, We've been very fortunate. We have a great
collaboration in local law enforcement. Mayor Whim when he was
elected last year, that was something he stressed he understood
the importance of all the law enforcement area agenses in
the area working together to combat issues like this. Recently,

(04:25):
last year we had a new Chief of Police no ideas,
he's been very instrumental and influential and getting law enforcement
together to combat these problems. So the elected judges have
been taking a strong stance in this and we're trying
to make as much of an impact as possibly we
possibly can on the law enforcement side.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
All right, Well, good luck with us, sir. Appreciate your
time this morning. Ken Neely, Houston Police Officers Union. It's
five fifty seven.