Ruston Alsbrooks was interviewed in 2010 by Ashley Membere, Joshua Redwine, and Lena Silva.
Alsbrooks agreed that the students could mount a Wikipedia entry about him. The original Wikipedia entry is provided below.
Informed consent, a video, and extended paper documentation for the interview are available at the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Return to the SWGS 201 interviewee list.
Ruston Alsbrooks (1960-) is an officer for the Houston Police
Department and serves as a member of Houston Mayor Annise Parker's
security detail.
Early Life
Ruston Alsbrooks was born in 1960 on a farm in the East Texas town of
Lufkin, where he lived with his parents and an older brother and
sister. His mother and father worked in accounting and doing factory
work, respectively. After graduating from high school, he worked on a
Sperry Sun oil ship for fourteen years and was able to travel around
the world, spending time in Scotland and South America. As a result of
turmoil within the oil industry, Alsbrooks chose to leave this career
and attend the University of Houston. He graduated magna cum laude
from the University of Houston downtown campus with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in criminal justice.
Houston Police Department (HPD)
Having applied and been accepted by the Baltimore, Washington DC, and
Houston police departments, Alsbrooks chose to work for HPD in April
of 1995. Annise Parker, president of the Gay and Lesbian Political
caucus at the time, was influential in this decision. Alsbrooks went
to Parker, who had worked with the police department before, for her
advice about if his homosexuality would be an issue as a police
officer. She contacted the then Chief of Police, Sam Nuchia, who
assured Alsbrooks that as long as he met the requirements and had the
proper training, sexuality would not be a factor in his application
process or in his service with the Houston Police Department.
After attending police academy, Alsbrooks spent three years in the
patrol unit of the HPD. He then went into investigative and
under-cover work with crimes including street-level narcotics,
prostitution, and robbery. Alsbrooks later worked with a Hot Spot
unit, where he was involved in the implementation of a SARA model to
decrease crime in certain, at-risk Houston communities. His reports
using the SARA model are still used in training other HPD officers in
Hot Spot work. He then worked in traffic enforcement before doing
motorcycle detail. Throughout his service with the HPD, Alsbrooks was
able to serve as part of security motorcades providing dignitary
protection for presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama during their visits
to Houston.
Cultural Diversity Work
The murder of Paul Broussard in the 1990s, along with instances of
discrimination against the LGBT community at the hands of Houston
police officers, inspired gay-specific sensitivity training for the
Houston Police Department. Inspired by Annise Parker's work with HPD,
Alsbrooks chose to work with the Cultural Diversity Program. He
trained police cadets on interaction with the LGBT community, using
his own experience as an openly gay police officer to provide them
with a unique perspective.
Kaesman Lawsuit
In 1998, Alsbrooks and the Houston Police Department were named as
defendants in a $48 million lawsuit filed by Susan Hartnett, mother of
a suspect fatally shot by police officers. On October 25, 1998 Derek
Kaeseman was followed from a known narcotics trafficking location in
Houston's Fourth Ward by Alsbrooks and his partner. When Kaeseman
failed to stop, a chase involving several police cars resulted. A
passenger leapt from the car and was taken into custody by Alsbrooks'
partner as Kaeseman continued down the Southwest Freeway. The
passenger informed the officer that Kaeseman might have been armed.
The suspect proceeded to hit a police car and came to a stop after
crashing in Stafford. Alsbrooks, in addition to nine other police
officers, drew his weapon when Kaeseman reached under his seat and
then appeared to have a shiny object in his hand. The officers fired
on Kaeseman, who died, but the object was later determined to be a can
opener. All officers were cleared of criminal charges.
Security Detail for Annise Parker
For the 2009 mayoral campaign, all-volunteer security details were
formed for the candidates. Alsbrooks formed a security detail for then
mayoral candidate Annise Parker during the campaign, which Parker
claimed to have an "unprecedented level of media attention, which is
worldwide and off the charts." Following her election to office,
Parker asked him to stay on as a part of her permanent security detail
and Alsbrooks accepted. Today, he continues to work as a part of Mayor
Annise Parker's personal detail. Parker's security detail has to
navigate a unique array of challenges and threats as the first
protection unit for the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city.
Currently, according to Alsbrooks, little empirical research exists
around protection of openly gay politicians. "This isn't the regular
security detail that each mayor has. This is the Dignitary Protection
Unit. Mine is very heavy right now." Parker said.
