#OTD on December 2, 1945, Houston Mayor Oscar Holcombe disbanded the Latin American Squad after receiving criticism from the Mexican American community about the head of the Squad, Officer George Bell, since he had served in the Texas Rangers. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/holcombe-oscar-fitzallen

Houston’s leaders had become increasingly concerned with Mexican American gang activity in the 1940s, especially after the so-called Zoot Suit Riots in 1943. Part of the Latin American Squad’s duties would be to focus on gangs.

Some Mexican American leaders also hoped the creation of the squad would minimized the chances of violent encounters between police and Mexican people. The 1937 beating death of Elpidio Cortez case at the hands of 2 HPD officers was a good example of what they hoped to avoid.

HPD launched the Latin American Squad in July of 1944 after hearing concerns from Mexican American leader. The squad was headed by Officer George Bell, who had lived in Mexico for several decades and spoke fluent Spanish.

Since HPD had few Spanish speaking officers, they hired Manuel Crespo, an immigrant from Spain, as well as several members of LULAC, as noncommissioned officers. They would assist in cases involving Mexican Americans and do ride-alongs with police in Mexican parts of the city.

However, word began to spread that Bell had served in the Rangers. Mexican American leaders began calling for the squad’s disbanding. HPD claimed that the squad had eliminated all gang activity in Houston, so they disbanded it on December 2, 1945.

Over the next three years, HPD formed and disbanded the Latin American Squad on two more occasions. Each time they put George Bell in charge of it. Each time that caused an outcry from the Mexican American community that led to the squad’s demise.

The Latin American Squad was an early example of police community outreach. But it largely operated as a predatory unit in the Mexican community. That Mexican American leaders mainly objected to Officer Bell shows just how little respect they had for the Rangers.