Council faults HPD command absence as legal privilege limits testimony

Council member Salinas and others repeatedly pressed the city's representatives to explain why HPD chiefs were not present at the hearing to answer questions about the immigration report. Salinas criticized the reliance on a privilege claim, saying the legal department and the mayor's administration were "refusing to allow HPD to tell the public where chief Diaz and chief Harden are today." Legal counsel repeatedly instructed HPD's data presenter not to answer operational or policy questions on the grounds that doing so would "invade the litigation privilege."