For years, the Houston Police Department has struggled with understaffing, leaving hundreds of thousands of cases unsolved. One potential root cause of the issue is that officers are underpaid compared to their counterparts in other police departments.
Earlier this year, the severity of staffing shortages at the Houston Police Department (HPD) came to light during an investigation into dropped cases. In July, Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite presented a nearly three-hour testimony addressing a controversial code that HPD had used for years: “suspended due to lack of staffing.”
The code, introduced in 2016 as a response to the overwhelming number of cases outpacing available personnel, was intended to explain why some non-violent crimes had not been investigated. This code was applied far beyond nonviolent offenses over the next eight years,
Satterwhite revealed, “[W]e discovered over 4,000 sexual assault cases in the Special Victims Division that had been suspended due to lack of personnel, and we found that across the department, 264,000 cases had been suspended.”
According to Douglas Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, the issue stems from officers being underpaid, contributing to both recruitment challenges and worsening officer retention. Griffith explained that many officers leave HPD shortly after graduating from the academy, seeking higher-paying positions at other departments.
The pay disparity is stark when compared to nearby police departments. The Bellaire Police Department offers a starting salary of $72,000 per year, while the Memorial Villages Police Department’s annual salary starts at $83,000. In other major Texas cities, Austin police officers begin at $70,000 annually, and Dallas offers $75,397.
In contrast, Houston’s starting salary for cadets is $52,000, and upon completing the academy, officers start at $62,000—significantly less than most surrounding departments and major cities.
Griffith emphasized the impact of these pay gaps, explaining that many recruits come to Houston for training opportunities but leave for departments with better salaries.
“We spend a lot of money to train officers, and we don’t need to be the training ground for other agencies,” he said. “We have to come up with something to ensure we can pay these officers and keep them here long-term.”
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