With the expected addition of 2,200 homes in the city over the next three years—bringing the city population to almost 18,000—that would raise the ratio of citizens to officers by nearly 50% to 346 to 1, according to the presentation.
“If we want to stay at the same level we’re at, we have to add,” Tomball Police Capt. Ricky Doerre told the council.
The 52 police officers represents a combination of the police chief, patrol officers, school resource officers and other personnel, Doerre said. To stay on top of calls for service, investigations and school growth, Doerre said the department would need to add 26 more officers by 2025.
“This will be the largest growth in the department since I’ve been here,” said Doerre, who said he has been with the department since 1997.
The additional officers needed include eight patrol officers, nine school resource officers and four investigators.
Tomball Police Sgt. Chris Burns said crime is expected to increase in the city with the additional residents if crime rates were to stay the same. However, he said rates have been decreasing in recent years.
“We are in a really good decrease in our overall crime stats,” Burns said.
Recording crime
Property crimes make up the majority of crimes in the city, Burns said, while violent crime represents 13% of crimes. There were 308 property crimes in 2021, a decrease of nearly a quarter since 2016, according to the presentation.
The current rate of property crimes is about 25 crimes per 1,000 residents, Burns said. If crime rates were to remain consistent, there could be an additional 141 property crimes by 2025, the presentation said.
The city had 47 violent crimes in 2021 for a rate of 3.8 victims per 1,000 residents, which could mean a potential increase of 22 violent crimes in 2025 if the rate stayed the same, according to the presentation.
Tomball Police Capt. Brandon Pattin said the addition of the eight patrol officers would help mitigate the potential increases in crime and calls for service.
School resource officer needs
In addition to the patrol officers, the police department recommended the city add three school resource officers, or SROs, each year over the next three years, for a total of nine additional SROs by 2025. The department currently has nine SROs covering Tomball ISD schools both within and outside city limits.
This equals one SRO for every 2,245 TISD students, although the national recommendation is to have a ratio of one officer to 1,000 students, Police Chief Jeff Bert said.
“We have to talk about officer safety, student safety and community safety,” Bert said. “We have to grow [the number of SROs].”
Even with 18 total SROs, the city would not be meeting the national recommendation based on growth in the school district, according to the presentation. To do so, the city would need to provide 26 or 27 SROs, the presentation shows.
Bert said while some surrounding school districts have their own police forces, the Tomball Police Department provides officers for TISD schools. He said the school district pays for 70% of the salary and benefits of the SROs while the city pays 30%.
However, Bert said the district's portion does not account for training, overtime pay, equipment and other expenses.
“That ratio doesn’t make a lot of sense after a while,” Bert said. “The school is getting a lot more bang for its buck by having a city police force patrol the schools.”
Council Member Derek Townsend said he believes the city should renegotiate its contract with the school district to be fair for the city.
“Tomball ISD is getting the benefit of having our police force police their schools,” Townsend said. “We pay these officers to protect our citizenry, and that’s what they need to be doing.”
Council Member Mark Stoll said he is open to discussing the contract with the district, but he reminded the council that it was at their direction to use city officers to police the school district.
In addition to patrol officers and SROs, other staffing recommendations include four investigators for general investigations, cyber crimes, juvenile crimes and a task force investigator. The police department's recommendation also included adding a patrol sergeant, community relations officer and specialist, dispatch supervisor and jail officer.
City Manager David Esquivel said the presentation is part of multiple long-range discussions various departments plan to have with the city to prepare for growth.
“We want to go through a series of presentations to discuss city operations ... [and] how we are going to maintain what we are doing today,” Esquivel said.
