KHOU-11’s Jeff McShan reports on another way the city is trying to fix HPD’s manpower shortage:
It’s not a done deal yet, but Houston City Councilmember Adrian Garcia has confirmed that the city is looking at ways it can hire officers who have been laid off around the country.
There are many officers available to help HPD’s severe staffing shortage.
The New York Police Department has lost 1,000 officers in the last three years. During the summer, Detroit laid off 600. Boston is down from 1,800 to 1,400. Cleveland recently laid off 250. And the Oregon State Police let 129 go from its 600-member force.
All the layoffs appear to be budget driven.
These are men and women that could help Houston immediately.
“Exactly, and as long as they meet the requirements that Houston police officers today have met, and that have allowed them to join the Houston Police Department, I am all for it,” Garcia said. “Great experience to bring in.”
HPD has begun accepting applications from officers around the country, but what hasn’t been worked out is finding an acceptable, abbreviated training program that everyone would agree on.
UPDATE: An emailer tells me that this idea has been brought up a couple of times by Chris Baker over the past several weeks. In fact, Chris apparently mentioned the idea to Councilman Garcia last week. Maybe Chris could become a special advisor to Mayor White. God knows the mayor could use some of Chris’ common sense.
