Houston Police Department
| Houston Police Department | |
| Abbreviation | HPD |
 | |
| Patch of the Houston Police Department. | |
 | |
| Badge of the Houston Police Department. | |
| Motto | Order through law, justice with mercy |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1841 |
| Annual budget | $600 Million |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | City of Houston in the state of Texas, USA |
 | |
| Map of Houston Police Department's jurisdiction. | |
| Size | 601.7 square miles (1,560 km) |
| Population | 2,208,180 (2007) |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | 1200 Travis Downtown Houston |
| Police Officers | 5,400+ |
| Agency executive | Charles McClelland, Chief of police |
| Facilities | |
| Helicopters | 5 |
| Website | |
| official site | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. Its headquarters are in 1200 Travis in Downtown Houston.
HPD's jurisdiction often overlaps with several other law enforcement agencies, among them the Harris County Sheriff's Office and the Harris County Constable Precincts. HPD is the largest municipal police department in Texas.
According to the HPD's website, "The mission of the Houston Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Houston by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment."
The current Chief of police is Charles McClelland.
History
Beginnings
Houston was founded by brothers Augustus and John Kirby Allen in 1836 and incorporated as a city the next year, 1837. As the city quickly grew, so did the need for a cohesive law enforcement agency. It was in 1841 that the Houston Police Department was founded. The first HPD badge issued bore the number "1."
The early part of the 20th century was a time of enormous growth for both the City of Houston and for the Houston Police Department. Due to growing traffic concerns in downtown Houston, the HPD purchased its first automobile in 1910 and created its first traffic squad during that same year. Eleven years later, in 1921, the HPD installed the city's first traffic light. This traffic light was manually operated until 1927, when automatic traffic lights were installed.
As Houston became a larger metropolis throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the HPD found itself growing and acquiring more technology to keep up with the city's fast pace. The first homicide division was established in 1930. During that same year, the HPD purchased newer weapons to arm their officers: standard issue .44 caliber revolvers and two Thompson submachine guns. In 1939, the department proudly presented its first police academy class. The Houston Police Officers Association (HPOA) was created in 1945. This organization later became the Houston Police Officers Union .
Throughout the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, the HPD also experienced its own highs and lows. The first HPD bomb squad was created in 1966. The next year, 1967, saw massive riots at Texas Southern University. During the riots, one officer was killed and nearly 500 students were arrested. It was as a result of these riots that the still-active Community Relations Division was created within the HPD. In 1970, the Helicopter Patrol Division was created with three leased helicopters. That year also marked the department's first purchase of bulletproof vests for their officers. The HPD's first Special Weapons and Tactical Squad (SWAT) was formed in 1975.
Modern times
In 1982, the Houston Police Department appointed its first African-American chief of police, Lee P. Brown. Brown served as chief from 1982 to 1990 and later became the City of Houston's first African-American mayor in 1998. While Brown was considered a successful chief, he also earned the unflattering moniker "Out of Town Brown" for his many lengthy trips away from Houston during his tenure .
Brown's appointment was controversial from the start. Traditional HPD officers frowned upon Brown because he was an outsider from Atlanta, Georgia where he was the police commissioner; to become the police chief in Houston, an officer has to advance through the rank and file although the "good old boy" culture was prevalent.
The HPD paved a new road again in 1990 when Mayor Kathy Whitmire appointed Elizabeth Watson as the first female chief of police. Elizabeth Watson served from 1990 to 1992 and was followed by Sam Nuchia, who served as police chief from 1992 to 1997. In 1997, Clarence O. Bradford was appointed as chief. In 2002, Bradford was indicted and later acquitted of perjury charges, stemming from an incident in which he allegedly lied under oath about cursing fellow officers . Since late 2007, Bradford was the Democratic nominee for Harris County District Attorney where he will be facing a Republican opponent (either Kelly Siegler or Patricia Lykos; the incumbent, Charles A. 'Chuck' Rosenthal, resigned prior to withdrawing his candidacy due to an e-mail scandal). Bradford faced Patricia Lykos and lost the election; he later campaigned in 2009 for a Houston City Council at-large council seat vacated by Ronald C. Green, who ran for controller.
Since 1992, the Houston City Marshal's division, Houston Airport Police, and Houston Park Police were absorbed into HPD. In early 2004, during Mayor Bill White's first term in office, HPD absorbed the Neighborhood Protection division from the City of Houston Planning Department, which was renamed the Neighborhood Protection Corps in 2005.
Crime laboratory
In November 2002, the CBS local tv station KHOU began broadcasting a multi-part investigation into the accuracy of the HPD Crime Lab's findings. Particularly of interest to the reporters were criminal cases that involved DNA analysis and serological (body fluid) testing. Night after night journalists David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao presented case after case in which the labs work was dangerously sloppy or just plain wrong and may have been sending the innocent to prison while letting the guilty go free. As a result of those broadcasts, at the end of the week the Houston Police Department declared they would have a team of independent scientists audit the lab and its procedures. However, the audit's findings were so troublesome that one month later,in mid- December, HPD closed the DNA section of the laboratory. Not only did the audit bolster KHOU's report but also found that samples were contaminated and the lab's files were very poorly maintained. The audit revealed that a section of the lab's roof was leaking into sample-containment areas, lab technicians were seriously undereducated or unqualified for their jobs, samples had been incorrectly tagged, and samples had been contaminated through improper handling. Worse, many people had been convicted and sent to prison based upon the evidence contained in the crime lab. The New York Times asked the question, "Worst Crime Lab in the Country?" in a March 2003 article .
Beginning in early 2003, the HPD Crime Lab began cooperating with outside DNA testing facilities to review criminal cases involving cases or convictions associated with Crime Lab evidence. However this again came as a result of some prompting investigatory work done by the tv station KHOU. Not long after their first broadcasts, reporters David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao got an e-mail from a local mother. She was desperate. She told them that her son, Josiah Sutton, had been tried for rape in 1999 and found guilty based upon HPD Crime Lab testing. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. So KHOU began to take an intensive look at the Sutton case. Raziq and Werner analyzed the HPD lab's DNA report with the help of DNA expert Bill Thompson of the University of California-Irvine. They found terrible and obvious mistakes in the report that the lab should have known about. When the reporters presented this new information to the local jurists who had helped convict Sutton, they were mortified. Not long after that broadcast, the HPD agreed to an immediate retest of the DNA evidence in the Sutton case. Those tests showed the DNA collected in the case did not belong to Sutton. He was released from prison in March 2003 and given a full pardon in 2004.
As a result of the scandal, nine Crime Lab technicians were disciplined with suspensions and one analyst was terminated. However, that analyst was fully reinstated to her previous position in January 2004, less than one month after her December 2003 termination. Many HPD supervisors and Houston residents called for more stringent disciplinary actions against the Crime Lab employees. However, the city panel responsible for disciplining the lab technicians repeatedly resisted these arguments and instead reduced the employees' punishments. Irma Rios was hired in 2003 as Lab Director, replacing Interim Lab Director Frank Fitzpatrick.
In May 2005, the Houston Police Department announced that with much effort and coordination on their part, they had received national accreditation through the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD). The ASCLD stated that the lab had met or exceeded standards for accreditation in all areas except DNA . Through independent research and testing, it was determined in January 2006 that of 1,100 samples reviewed, 40% of DNA samples and 23% of blood evidence samples had serious problems . On June 11, 2007, the HPD crime lab reported its DNA section had gained full accreditation from ASCLD .
In the October 6, 2007 The Houston Chronicle published allegations of Employees cheating on an open-book proficiency test.
Safe Clear
The Safe Clear program was implemented by Mayor Bill White on January 1, 2005 as a joint venture between the City of Houston and the Houston Police Department . The intention of the program was to decrease the freeway accidents and traffic jams that occurred due to stalled drivers. Select tow truck companies across the city were authorized to tow a stalled vehicle as soon as possible after being notified by an HPD officer. Persons having their vehicle towed were provided with a Motorist's Bill of Rights and were required to pay a sum to the City of Houston after the towing had taken place.
The program was initially very unpopular among Houston residents. Frequent complaints were that the program unfairly punished lower-income motorists by enforcing a high towing fee and that the program could potentially damage vehicles that required special tow trucks and equipment to be safely towed away. Other complaints were that stranded motorists did not have an option to choose their own garage. The City of Houston and the HPD addressed these concerns with program improvements that provided funds to pay for short tows that removed stalled vehicles from the freeway and then allowed drivers to choose their own garage and tow companies once they were safely off the freeway .
Studies released in February 2006 indicate that Safe Clear has been successful during its fledgling year. There were 1,533 less freeway accidents in 2005, a decrease of 10.4% since Safe Clear's implementation .
Red light cameras
In December 2004, Chief Hurtt (when he was the former chief of Oxnard, CA) stated that when the city of Oxnard installed their red light cameras, it has claimed that red light running decreased dramatically although the City of Houston was in the process of favoring red light camera enforcement. The history of red light camera enforcement goes back to the 78th Texas Legislature where this measure was voted down although a transportation bill authored by a member of the Texas House of Representatives had an inclusion of red light camera enforcement. In December 2004, the Houston City Council unanimously voted for red light camera enforcement although Texas State Representative Gary Elkins (R-TX) introduced legislation to deter the City of Houston from amending its city charter for the city ordinance (i.e. red light cameras) to be enforced. This measure failed in the Texas Senate although in 2005, four intersections in Downtown Houston were used as testbeds for red light camera equipment. After a vending contract was approved, the enforcement went online September 1, 2006 to which those running a red light (there are 50 locations ) are fined a $75 civil fine as opposed to a $225 moving violation which goes against the vehicle operator.
There are 50 intersections with red light cameras in the City of Houston with 70 cameras (20 intersections were added where dual cameras were installed). A majority of them are located at a thoroughfare at a freeway intersection - primarily in the Galleria and Southwest Houston. During a recent Houston City Council meeting on 6.11.08, council member James Rodriguez suggested the installation of an additional 200 cameras.
A voter referendum during the 2010 Texas gubernatorial elections to eliminate red-light cameras passed. The referendum that passed in November 2010 was later invalidated by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes June 17, 2011 citing that the referendum violated the city charter despite the contract with American Traffic Solutions, which provided the camera equipment. The cameras are expected to be reactivated after midnight on July 24, 2011; plans are underway to have this judicial ruling heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Mobility Response Team
On July 2, 2007, mayor Bill White started a new program called the "Mobility Response Team". This Task force, staffed by traffic enforcement officers will patrol within the loop looking for, and being dispatched to, traffic problems. They will report traffic light outages, issue parking citations, help clear and direct traffic around minor accidents, or traffic jams during special events like concerts, shows, etc. in the Houston area. The duties will only involve surface streets and not the freeways and will be using scooters and also police cruisers fitted with yellow flashing lights than the typical red and blue.
This is part of the Mayor's ongoing plan to improve mobility in Houston and is the first of its kind in the United States. The city's mobility response team will cost $1.8 million a year to operate.
Overtime and "Hot Spot" patrol concentration
Hurtt to spend an $24 million on overtime pay through 2010. The money would continue to bolster an understaffed force as police commanders try to increase their ranks. The overtime that is planned would be about equal to 500,000 police hours of which would help bolster various departments including, vice, Westside patrol and traffic enforcement, among other areas including a new 60-member crime reduction unit that will serve as a citywide tactical squad.
The police chief said the effort will put more officers to work immediately in troubled areas of the city such as Third Ward and Acres Homes, where the bodies of seven women have been found in the past two years.
The crime rate, particularly for violent offenses, since the latter part of 2005, when an influx of hurricane evacuees increased the city's population by more than 100,000, and incidents spiked in certain neighborhoods.
Organization
Organizational chart
Office of the Chief of Police
Resources
Patrol Vehicles
The Houston police mainly utilize a large number of Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor as their main fleet of patrol vehicles. They have Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor models from newest models of model year 2010 to the oldest of 1999. They also use pickup trucks like the big three, Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F150 , and Dodge Ram for their "truck enforcement" detail. There is also a small fleet of Dodge Charger, which are mainly use for the "stealth traffic patrol vehicles" which are plain white police cars with a slicktop roof, gray, reflective "Houston police" letters on the side and as well on the front bumper, and hidden emergency lights that are driven by uniformed officers. The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is also used in the "stealth traffic patrol vehicle". For solos the officers use a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Air Support
The Houston Police helicopter division celebrated its 40th anniversary of airborne law enforcement in 2010. The unit was first formed in 1970 with three leased Schweizer 269B helicopters. Since that time Houston has flown almost exclusively Schweizer or MD helicopters.
In 2008 the Houston Police Department acquired new MD500E helicopters. The department also has Schweizer 300 helicopters for training. The Air Support unit has a total fleet of 10 or more helicopters.
Houston is the largest city in Texas with a 2008 population of 2.2 million in a 600-square-mile (1,600 km) area. The helicopter division patrols about a 700-square-mile (1,800 km) area. Houston Police have two helicopters in the air for up to 21 hours a day. All pilots and Tactical Flight Officers are sworn Houston police officers.
The City of Houston is committed to airborne law enforcement and establishes the Houston Police Department as a leader in law enforcement aviation. As of 2010, The Houston Police Department's air support division is quickly set to become the second largest municipal police air support unit in the country. .
Weapons
All Houston police officers now carry .40 (S&W) caliber semi-automatic handguns as their main duty weapon. They are also armed with X26 tasers. Tenured officers whose guns are "grandfathered in" are still allowed to carry their weapons after the mandated .40 (S&W) requirement. The Chief, Charles McClelland, carries a Colt 1911 Mk. IV Government Model as his sidearm. The Houston Police SWAT unit operates several kinds of automatic weapons, and was the first local law enforcement agency in the United States to adopt the FN P90.
The Academy and field training
Ranks
Fallen officers
Since the establishment of the Houston Police Department, 111 officers have died in the line of duty. The following list also contains officers from the Houston Airport Police Department and the Houston City Marshal's Office, which were merged into HPD.
Demographics
Breakdown of the makeup of the rank and file of HPD :
Scandals and allegations
Joe Campos Torres
Chad Holley Beating
Education
Breakdown of the types of academic degrees held by HPD members:
Radio Unit Identifiers
Numeric-only Identifiers
Alphanumeric Identifiers
See also
References
External links
Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Houston_Police_Department&oldid=463571392
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