Houston police seek salary hike to help stagnant sta ng From the cover
Zooming in
The big picture
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 depart- ments, ... we are on the low end.” She also cited generational differences as more people aim for a work-life balance.
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
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.
HPD officers: 2020-2024
1.34% decrease over the past five years
6K
5,282
5,211
5,185
5,147
5,081
5K
4K
3K
0
2021
2022
2023
2024
2020
SOURCE: HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Offering input
Looking back
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 recruit- ment. 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.
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. “Public safety is our highest priority, and if we don’t make people feel safe and be safe, [and] hold bad actors accountable, probably nothing else matters,” Whitmire said at the Dec. 13 Washington Avenue Corridor initiative announcement.
Population vs. police salary
Salary Population P
Houston | P 2,314,157 $62,574
Jersey Village | P Population: 7,653 $66,000
Austin | P 979,882 $70,644
Sugar Land | P 108,515 $75,605 Pearland | P 127,736 $72,000 Pasadena | P 146,716 $76,379 Baytown | P 84,067 $77,529
“This is our home, and who better to ll the ranks than the young people we have in our community? We have some fabulous universities here in
town. We have great high schools. We need to pull from this group of kids.” NOE DIAZ, HPD POLICE CHIEF
SOURCES: HOUSTON, PEARLAND, SUGAR LAND, JERSEY VILLAGE, PASADENA, BAYTOWN AND AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENTS; UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
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