Officers on the scene called the arrests "utterly, utterly senseless" on Monday, and said the captain in charge, Mark Aguirre, ordered them to round up everyone who was outside the 24-hour Kmart Super Center or eating at the Sonic Drive-In next door.

The operation had been weeks in planning and involved dozens of officers. But officers involved said that when no drag racers were found, they were ordered to arrest the 278 people there.
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"That operation had been planned for weeks," one of the supervisors said. "It was not planned with the intent to arrest everyone in sight. It was to arrest drag racers."
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Both supervisors said many of the people arrested were not in cars. Many were eating food from the Sonic, which was open until 2 a.m., or had been shopping at Kmart.

Attention, Kmart shoppers. You are under arrest.
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At times like this we need some way to police the police. Otherwise, you know what will happen: HPD will treat this contemptible abuse of power as a single, isolated incident. If an investigation actually finds that citizens were wrongfully arrested, authorities then will focus on damage control and try to put the blame on one or two individuals.
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But we can't settle for a typical smokescreen-and-scapegoat kind of investigation. Too many serious issues and nagging questions have been laid bare by this absurdity.

For one example: Why weren't some oversight measures in place that could have prevented the debacle, or could have at least called a halt to it in the early stages?
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For another example: What about the towing charges? People whose cars got towed in the weekend raid have paid or will pay well over $100 each to get them returned.
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The practice of towing cars cries out for a thorough examination. Authorities too often allow towing by independent companies to serve as an unofficial punitive measure, and it is a penalty without sufficient or effective avenues for appeal by vehicle owners.
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Yet another example: What about the people who pleaded guilty to the charges in order to get out of jail quicker?

Our criminal justice system makes it much more time consuming and difficult and expensive and risky for innocent people to stand up for their rights. This is another issue that needs to be put under a magnifying glass.

Aguirre, the target of both criticism and kudos for a raid that resulted in the arrests of 278 young people...

A Houston police officer paid for "no trespassing" signs with his city credit card the day before a weekend of mass arrest, the city controller confirmed Thursday.

Dilip Patel, budget coordinator for the Houston Police Department's South Central division, purchased $256.50 worth of signs on Aug. 15, coinciding with police raids of a westside Kmart, Sonic Drive-In and James Coney Island parking lots. Nearly 300 people were arrested for trespassing in early morning raids on Aug. 17 and 18.
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Councilwoman Ada Edwards sent a letter to Garcia's office Wednesday asking her to look into the purchase after council members received an anonymous call from a police officer alerting them that the police paid for the signs.

The caller said Capt. Mark Aguirre ordered Patel to get 50 signs. Patel works in the South Central patrol division where Aguirre served as captain before he was suspended in connect with the arrests.

Buying the signs is legal, but posting them on private property is not, because city funds cannot be spent for private use, city officials said.

Capt. Mark A. Aguirre, who oversaw the Aug. 18 raid designed to curb drag racing along the 8400 block of Westheimer, and Ken Wenzel, a sergeant in his South Central Patrol Division, were each indicted on five counts of official oppression.

Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, commander of the controversial raid at a westside Kmart in August, was fired this morning.
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The firing comes a day after Sgt. Ken Wenzel announced he would quit rather than possibly face a similar fate.