West U Police department plans for growth

West University Place Police Department needs more space. 

The West University Place Police Department’s evidence room is 83% full. Dispatch demands its own adequate space. Detectives require briefing rooms and some staff need offices, according to the department. However, where the tight space is really felt is outside, West U Police Chief Gary Ratliff said.

“Right now we have 15 marked vehicles, but we have 13 parking spaces,” he said. “That doesn’t include our staff.”

The department is also trying to hire more staff. Ratliff said these are the realities of the department as it tries to grow in both personnel and physical space.

A staffing study concluded that West U needs 42 sworn personnel to operate at full capacity. At least 60% should be patrol, and the other 40% should go toward support services. The department will start 2027 with 33 officers.

The need

The police department currently operates with 31 officers and is on schedule to hire two more by January 2027, bringing the total up to 33. 

“We’ve got to fill patrol first, and then we’ve got to fill criminal investigations,” Ratliff said. 

An adequate number of patrol officers allows hiring efforts to focus on support services positions, Ratliff said. The department's plan would double the number of detectives, create a special operations group and eventually add dedicated training and community outreach officers.

Despite the need for more staff, Ratliff says city management has done well in meeting the needs of the department. 

From February 2025 to January 2027, the department will have added five positions, which Ratliff says is “unbelievable.” 

“It's phenomenal that a city is that responsive to provide that kind of support,” he said. “That's just not typically the norm.”

Building the department is more than just hiring for the positions; city officials also have to compete for more officers, Ratliff said. The city’s approved fiscal year 2027 starting salary for a police officer is $76,585, with a maximum salary of $102,918. The new rate would ensure that the salary range is at the 75th percentile of its comparable group as it works to remain competitive with other agencies.

During the city’s FY 2027 budget discussions in July, some council members suggested raising the compensation to the 80th percentile to remain competitive with comparable departments.  

City Manager Dave Beach said the current salary structure costs $531,000 in the approved FY 2027 budget. If it were to move to the 80th percentile, that would be an additional $150,000, totaling $681,000, he said.

That change, along with other budgeted factors, would push the city above its voter-approved tax rate, he added. 

“Some things you can do immediately, some things you may have to do a few years down the road,” Beach said. “It’s about incremental growth.” 

City officials ultimately approved hiring two new officers and the salary increase for first-year officers from $74,334 to $76,585, as well as one new vehicle for the department. 

The options

Even if all positions are filled, the department still faces the challenge of space, Ratliff said. The West U police department is currently housed in the same building as the fire department and city administration, which includes council chambers, the finance department, human resources and municipal court. 

The lack of space is part of the reason the city spent the past several months deciding on new or upgraded facility options.

Jeff Gerber, CEO of PGAL, which is the design firm that would handle the project, said the building that currently houses all three departments requires thousands more square feet than is currently available. 

“City Hall takes up just under 13,000 square feet. That includes some shared spaces with both the police and fire,” he said. “The fire station equates to just under 9,000 square feet and the police station just under 12,000 square feet.”

The police station needs a total of 24,640 square feet. Ratliff said the best option for the police department would be option A, which moves it to a separate building and provides over 60 spaces of parking compared to its current 13 spots.

“That’s the only one that provides optimal parking for the department,” he said. “That’s the only one we’ll see that gives us the space we need.”

As they wait for decisions on the new facility, the department has begun construction on its current location for additional space. 

Managing the impact

Like most police departments, the West U department deals with the challenge of prioritizing calls based on urgency, Ratliff said they deal with the challenge of prioritizing calls based on urgency. The department’s current response times are just over four minutes, with an average call being completed in just under 25 minutes. 

Ratliff said being fully staffed would help give the department the ability to depend on its own staff. Currently, if the department is not able to prioritize a call, they reach out to other agencies like Bellaire and Southside Place for help.

“When we say fully operational, that means that we are more independent rather than depending on other agencies for assistance in all areas,” Ratliff said.

He also said he hopes within the next five years, the department can hire full time training officers.

“It is difficult in a small department to be able to adequately train all your staff without creating staffing issues while you're doing it,” he said. “We need to have full-time trainers that are available to do that without having to take some people off of the shift to train others.”

Community outreach will be key to building trust with the community, he said. 

“Right now we're doing a citizen police academy once a year and a teen academy once a year,” he said. “By adding an additional person with that, we can do 2 CPAs a year. We can also add more programs—engagement is everything.”

What's next

Although the officials are still working to increase the department’s staffing and facility space, Ratliff said the department has made “great strides” toward its goals.

On Sept. 28, city officials approved option A for the new police facility, which will build a new station on Amherst Street and renovate the existing 3800 University Blvd. facility to accommodate City Hall and the fire department.

Officials will continue with the ongoing construction of the current facility in the meantime.