Houston tries to beef up police force

(8/31/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- Are you really safe where you live? With more violence on Houston streets and fewer police officers to protect you, there's a new plan to fix a growing problem. But will it really work?

Do you feel safe in your neighborhood? If something happens will police get there quickly enough to help? There are questions with no clear answer.

The murder rate in Houston is up 25% when comparing the first six months of 2005 to 2006. Houston police are struggling to get more officers to join the force. The mayor says he has a plan. But other city leaders say it's not going to work.

It's not only a matter of money. It's also about being competitive in landing the right kind of officer without watering down your standards. That's something HPD continues to struggle with as the need for more officers on the streets seems like it's never been greater.

No one can argue the current state of HPD. Take the hundreds of officers who've retired in recent years, not to mention the ones still planning to do so. Couple that with the addition of the more than 100,000 hurricane evacuees and a rising crime rate and you're left with a force that's grossly understaffed and overworked.

Mayor Bill White promised, "We'll get up to the force levels we had within several years."

By 2008, Mayor White and Houston's police chief hope to bring the ranks up to 5,000 officers. It's achievable, but what happens the year after that or five years after that? With another 600 officers expected to retire over the next three years, Mayor White says he's committed to a long term hiring program.

The plan calls for seven cadet classes through June 2007. That's an addition of nearly 500 officers, assuming those classes are at capacity. It also calls for more aggressive overtime programs using the nearly 30 million in federal monies and various recruiting programs. How realistic is this?

Houston city councilmember Adrian Garcia said, "It was realistic until President Bush signed a pension reform bill."

Garcia estimates that 40% of HPD's workforce is eligible for retirement. But that's not his only concern.

He said, "Filling those classes is going to be a challenge. The type of officer that we are hiring today has a job waiting in corporate America and we don't offer corporate America salaries."

As the recruiting wars continue, Garcia says he and the mayor, along with the police chief and other city leaders, are now working on a long term solution to the current crisis.

Mayor White said, "We get better value of the taxpayer dollar if we use our police productively. We've certainly been investing a large amount of money in the police department."

Mayor White says he's made it clear he is against raising property taxes to fund public safety. He is in favor of spending $90 million on public safety. Voters will say yes or no to that in November.

We did some checking into what police officers get paid around the state. The base pay for a Houston police officer is $36,000 a year. In Dallas, they make close to $42,000 a year. And in Austin the minimum amount police officers make is $50,000 a year.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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