HOUSTON – A member of the Houston Police Department’s top brass says the department is struggling at this time to investigate all cases that have good substantial clues or leads, including crimes like rape and robbery.
According to a presentation given by HPD to members of Houston City Council, the clearance rate for rape is 44 percent and for robbery it’s 21 percent.
The staffing problem extends far beyond the mounting investigation caseload. It’s also had an impact on response times in an emergency. In potentially life-threatening emergencies, HPD can have an officer at your doorstep within six minutes nearly 73 percent of the time. It’s more than half, but what if you’re included in the remaining 27 percent?
For the remaining 27 percent who will be forced to wait, it’s because there just aren’t enough police officers. If the emergency was so serious that it required two police officers, HPD would only make it to the location 50 percent of the time.
“We have a crisis with staffing in the Houston Police Department and we need to do something about it,” Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officer’s Union said. “We just can’t keep sticking out head in the sand like it’s going to go away because it’s not going to go away.”
Hunt sounded the alarm Tuesday. He says the department needs 1,500 new officer a year for the next few years to keep up with turnover and retirements. That’s far more that what the city is planning. Over the next five years, 1,220 officers are expected to be added to the force.
“The economy is associated with a plan like this are enormous and you just can’t expect the community to have that kind of funding laying around that can be dedicated to a commitment like this,” HPD Assistant Chief Timothy Ottmeier said.
Finding new recruits continues to be a challenge because HPD salaries aren’t competitive. The city currently pays around $10,000 less than what departments in other Texas cities are offering.
Hunt believes the plan and the recommendations are a step in the right direction. In addition to hiring more officers, the plan calls for additional overtime money and using civilians to fill some positions which would allow officers to move back onto the streets.
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