Despite Houston’s size, HPD officials said the department’s salary for police officers isn’t as competitive as smaller municipalities in Texas. Current negotiations between the city and the Houston Police Union could help solve that issue as the department prioritizes staffing, but faces the challenges of rising violent crimes and the city’s $320 million budget shortfall.
“We have to look very closely at salaries, at other incentives, at working conditions, all kinds of things that play into whether or not people want to become a police officer in the city of Houston or not,” Public Safety Committee Chair Amy Peck said.
The big picture
Negotiations between Houston and the Houston Police Union began in late January, Union President Douglas Griffith said. As of April 1, 90% of negotiations were already complete with hopes that a new contract would be signed soon, he said.
Griffith said the goal of these negotiations is to make the Houston Police Department more marketable and to offer salaries comparable with other city police departments.
“Last year, we lost 86 officers with less than 10 years on,” Griffith said. “They’re going to smaller municipalities that are around us or other organizations where they’re paying more. Pasadena, Pearland, Baytown—they all pay more than we do.”
The last time the union and the city agreed to a new contract was in 2022 when police officers saw a 10.5% pay increase, $6.7 million in special pay and funding for new crime reduction technology.
However, Houston is at a $320 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2026-27. City Controller Chris Hollins said raising salaries would increase the deficit, but he believes police should be well-compensated regardless. He said with HPD’s $1 billion budget and 90% of it going toward salaries, if salaries were raised 5%, for example, the city could be facing an additional $40 million to $50 million deficit.
Conn said the number of officers leaving HPD has outpaced the number of new officers joining for years.
She said the staffing shortage could be attributed to many things, including some “negative attitude” from the public toward law enforcement and competing against other cities offering higher salaries.
“As a young person, you would want to go to the city that would offer you more money,” she said. “Compared to other local police departments, ... we are on the low end.”
She also cited generational differences as more people aim for a work-life balance.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire appointed Noe Diaz as the new police chief in August, citing the department’s need for the former Texas Rangers’ experience and reputation in combating crime, investigations and recruitment. Diaz previously served as Katy’s police chief for five years and also served as a state trooper for the Texas Department of Public Safety for 23 years.
During Diaz’s appointment in August, he said Houston has a diverse community and he hopes to recruit more young people as officers.
“This is our home, and who better to fill the ranks than the young people we have in our community?" Diaz said. "We have some fabulous universities here in town. We have great high schools. We need to pull from this group of kids.”
Whitmire campaigned in 2023 on improving the city’s public safety, and throughout 2024 and early 2025, he announced multiple initiatives to crack down on crime in Houston:
- A two-night initiative where Whitmire and Diaz drove throughout the Washington Avenue Corridor to ensure clubs and people followed city ordinances and did not cause noise violations.
- A monthlong human trafficking initiative in January involving multiple counties nearby, including Houston resulted in the arrests of 15 traffickers with 21 trafficking-related charges filed and 29 victims rescued.
- Council member Willie Davis also presented the Police, Pastors and People initiative on Feb. 13, to bring law enforcement and faith leaders together to help reduce juvenile crimes.
Why it matters
HPD Assistant Chief Megan Howard said during a Feb. 11 Public Safety Committee meeting that violent crime increased nearly 5% from 2023 to 2024. However, violent crimes and total crimes are down from 2020.
Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery, human trafficking, aggravated assault and kidnapping.
Howard said HPD’s No. 1 priority this year is to increase staffing and help combat rising crime.
“We should be very optimistic about our potential to grow and fill our ranks,” Howard said. “The key here is to plug the hole [and] to slow down departures.”
Conn said HPD will continue to push recruiting efforts through hiring events at community centers, expos and even mentor programs where officers bring in interested candidates and mentor them throughout the hiring and academy process.
“We need people who have a heart of public service and want to contribute to their community as a whole and better the community that we live in,” Conn said. “That requires people who are willing to step into the life of policing and public service and serve with a purpose.”
An additional goal for HPD, Howard said, is to construct a new central station by midyear that will be located next to HPD’s Property Room at 1202 Washington Ave. The original station at Riesner Street was damaged by Hurricane Harvey, leaving multiple divisions displaced and not in workspaces properly designed for their work such as the vehicular crimes division, she said. No cost estimate was available at press time for the new station.
