This is like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound:
Beginning later this month or in early February, HPD will re-assign hundreds of officers behind desks to the streets. The department will ask them to give up one or two days a month to ride along on patrol. The police union is concerned that these administrative officers don’t have tasers or bullet-proof vests."That’s one of the issues that we brought up to the chief. We were concerned and think that needs to be addressed and it’s something they obviously need to look into," said Hans Marticiuc with the Houston Police Officers’ Union.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad we’re going to have more patrol officers. But this is the wrong way to go about it. The city doesn’t have enough cops, period. Not enough detectives, not enough patrolmen, not enough support cops. When I got mugged, it took HPD two full weeks to assign my case to an officer. The force is just too small. Shuffling cops around isn’t going to make it bigger.
Let’s look at the ratio of population to sworn officers for America’s five largest cities:
| City | Population | Officers | Ratio |
| New York | 8,008,278 | 35,000 | 228 |
| Los Angeles | 3,694,820 | 9,300 | 397 |
| Chicago | 2,896,016 | 13,600 | 213 |
| Houston | 1,953,631 | 4,800 | 407 |
| Philadelphia | 1,517,550 | 6,900 | 219 |
As for the concerns for the safety of these desk officers:
HPD says all officers without tasers will ride with an officer who does have one. The department also says that new bullet-proof vests will also be ordered.
At least they don’t have to share the vest.
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They need an acronym for this program, Bramanti!
An acronym, and it would be so much more than the reshuffling you describe.
Since it lacks an acronym, I have my doubts about it!
I wonder how many of those NYC or Chicago police officers “walk a beat” compared to our officers, who must cover not blocks, but square miles, thus requiring a partner, a fully-equipped car & equipment, plus the operating expenses of driving the unit hundreds of miles each day.
Geography and population density play a big role - our # of officers per capita is roughly the same as LA, and so is the lay of the land.
Even ignoring the safety issue of “desk cops” doing hazardous duty, what happens to the work that said “desk cops” do? It doesn’t just go away because those cops are now in the field. The citizens that these cops serve and protect get hosed either way, along with the cops themselves.
Once the traffic cameras are installed and the money is rolling in like you see at a casino, the situation will get a lot better.
#1: How about Operation Houston: Cop Re-Assignment Program. OH-CRAP sounds about right.
#2: Fair criticism. But how do you account for the fact that we have 1,000 fewer officers than we did in 1996? Houston sure hasn’t gotten any smaller during that time.
#5.#2 - how do you account for the fact that we have 1,000 fewer officers?…. Lee P. Brown
And they seem mighty concerned about the cops having tasers. Gun? check. Bullets? check. Night stick? check. Seems to me that cop is ready to roll.
I’m not familiar with tasers (and hope never to be), but since they seem to emit a current of some type, can they be used in all conditions? Raining, windy, etc? Just wondering.
The best way to get more cops in a high crime area is to build more of these
http://www.usatourist.com/slideshows/usatravels/images/06donut_shop.jpg
There is a way to get many more cops on the street, without adding any additional employees. Just take the cops’ radar guns away. When we do that they’ll come out from behind billboards, and streaming up out of culverts. We’ll have lots more of them on the streets.
1) Sell city assets such as land and buildings. Use the proceeds to hire additional police.
2) Privatize the water department: Stop the financial bleeding.
3) Deny free city services (food stamps, medical care etc) to illegal aliens. This ought to be obvious.
4) Make Houston a point of destination for tourists. Will increase tax revenue etc
5) Attract new business to town for more tax revenue: Wasn’t this supposed to be the strong suit of the mayor?
The doughnut shops are always full of our blues. May be next time anyone is in trouble they should call the doughnut shop instead of 911, they might get swift response.
I think that part of the problem with the police shortage is that the requirements to get into the police academy are more stringent in other states. I’ve looked into the requirements in Texas and Missouri and I found out the requirements in Cali from a friend who was looking into it. Texas is the only state of the three that requires college experience, somewhere around 60 hours, but I think you can get by with less if you have a good enough GPA. Heck, California even pays you while you’re going through the academy. San Diego, for example, pays $4850 a month during that process.
What do they need tasers for? Just give ‘em some range time and keep the jails empty and the morgue full.
10: Your #4 is part of the city’s problem. The current administration — like its predecessor — is determined to make Houston a “world-class” city, so it does things like fund stadiums, build massive convention center hotels when this town already has too many hotel rooms, propose a hugely expensive downtown park, and the list goes on.
Funny thing about those items I listed: none of them put out fires or arrest bad guys. Just a thought.
# 9…you are totally misguided..
# 11…your stereotype is as old as dirt…get a new one
#15 - left-2-right: Ditto. Most of those “desk bound cops” are detectives trying to solve crimes. The department is filled with civil service workers who type up reports, etc. You can’t get rid of them, no matter how bad they are.
#9 and #11 - Not all officers are in patrol. There are many divisions in HPD who all do an important job. They all put their lives on the line each and every day. They are “lead” by incompetant chiefs and deputy chiefs who are appointed by the mayor. In almost all cases, they have too little experience, but were the right color or ethnicity. The average officer has no say in what the department implements.
Dear left to right..
#9 and #11 are very correct..
You, mr left to right, need to come out from under your rock. ..or…are you a cop???!!!
BTW # 16, I guess that is why they don’t ask the “right color” people to turn down those loud car radios that we have to tolerate when we are trying to listen to conservative talk radio. Wasn’t there a law passed regarding loud “Thug” music? or was it just loud music, I can’t remember because there is someone in the car next to me playing thug music, I can’t think..
Dear # 17…you live in dream world…the world where “all” accountants are nerds and “all” politicians are crooks…your insight is about as sharp as a butter knife…end of story…
#10, Dutch: 2) “Privatize the water department: Stop the financial bleeding.”
What “bleeding” is that, pray tell? Can you please supply some figures, preferably from the CAFR to show that the city is running a deficit in the utility funds? I’d be very interested in seeing your information. A private e-mail is available if it’s too much to post here.
Of course, how turning over a city department to a crony of the Mayor, and reducing accountability to the elected officials will make things better is a mystery to me.