Mayor And Council Sign Pledge Adding 500 More Cops By 2023

HOUSTON, TX — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and members of the Houston City Council signed a pledge to add an additional 500 police officers to the streets over the next five years.

The signed pledge, which was presented to the Houston Police Officer's Union on Wednesday, came just days after Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo's called for adding 2,000 police officers to the streets of Houston, despite a crime rate that was on the decline last year.

Houston Police Officer's Union President Joe Gamaldi echoled Acedvedo's sentiments during a press conference on Wednesday.

"I don't think it's any secret that the Houston Police Department has been doing more with less for far too long," Gamaldi said. "We have a city that's 650 square miles and we have 5,200 officers patrolling that."

Houston, which has long been the fourth largest city in the U.S. behind Chicago, is poised to surpass the Windy City in population numbers before the 2020 census.

To get those new officers on the streets, the city will need to hold six academy classes over the next five fiscal years, Gamaldi said.

Although adding 500 officers is far short of the number of officers Acevedo said the department needed to function properly, Gamaldi said the 500 pledge was a reasonable sustainable path to move the department forward.

"There is no question that we do not have enough police officers to cover and patrol, and protect all the people in this city, and the people who are coming into the city each and every day," Turner said.

Citing the city hosting the 2017 Super Bowl and the response to Hurricane Harvey, Turner said the city's police force performed well, and that the city was blessed.

However, Turner said even though there is a pledge, there will be an issue of funding, especially with a budget that is projected at a $130 million deficit.

"I signed the pledge because we need them, but the question becomes how do we pay for them," he said. "I signed the pledge, but this must be a community conversation."

The city council will consider the fiscal year budget in the next several months.

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