KTRK-13’s Andy Cerota checks in on the Chief Hurtt’s efforts to move police officers from jail duty back to the streets (previously, the department had decided to replace jailers with police officers):
There’s been a shakeup at the Houston city jail. Just over a year after civilian employees were let go and replaced with police officers, the department has changed its mind. Now the civilians are returning.
The city says it needs more officers to get criminals off the streets, not babysit the ones who have already been caught. This plan is really a case of taking what resources you have and putting them to better use. Not only is this an opportunity for HPD to beef up its police presence, it’s also a chance for some of the civilian jailers who lost their jobs to try and get them back.
[snip]
So far, seventy officers have been reassigned in recent months. The goal is to move another 30 out of the jails by the end of this month — a move that puts an additional 100 cops back on patrol.
Back in June 2005, KHOU-11 reported the following:
Chief Hurtt also says that about 100 more officers will soon be hitting the streets. Those officers currently work in the city jail and the city plans to replace them with civilian workers.
The Chronicle reported in December 2005 that the hundred police officer/jailers would be on regular police duty by March.
Chief Hurtt’s “initiatives” seem to move along at a snail’s pace.
