HPD’s payroll management is receiving plenty of attention these days, mostly through some outstanding reporting by the Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles.
KPRC-2’s Troubleshooters added to the discussion last night with a story about who pays for the police presence around major league sporting events:
Every time the Astros take the field, the ball club pays for security in the stands. The Astros pay officers to guard the field and the players in both dugouts.
But outside Minute Maid Park, taxpayers pay the six-figure bill with officers pulled from other downtown Houston neighborhoods.
[snip]
But it’s not just after the game when the traffic is heavy. You’re also paying them to just sit and wait. On a recent game night, it was only the 7th inning and officers were stationed block after block after block, just waiting for the game to let out. Some of the officers said that means they’re not answering burglary calls or any calls from downtown residents, Troubleshooter Stephen Dean reported.
[snip]
In March, KPRC Local 2 requested a ballpark breakdown of HPD timesheets.
The final score — an average of 66.4 hours worked by officers per game. It was as high as 97 hours a game for one month.
In all of 2005, 5,905 hours were spent by on-duty HPD officers.
That’s awfully nice of Houston taxpayers. Doubly nice considering how much taxpayers spent paying for those big stadiums.
So, do non-profit groups get the same taxpayer-funded police presence for big events? Of course not:
The Race For A Cure needed HPD officers for its big event in October.
But the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation told the Troubleshooters that, just like all the other big downtown charity events, it had to write a check for the HPD officers needed.
While charities may be out of luck, the Rockets and the other teams that share the Toyota Center are getting officers off the street at taxpayers’ expense — 2,563 on-duty hours were worked in 2005.
In all, on-duty officers worked nearly 12,000 hours for events at the Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park — sometimes premium overtime hours. It put the price tag at more than $450,000 in 2005.
And how did this all come about?
Assistant HPD Chief George Buenik said a previous mayor promised those duties would be handled by the city, but nearby emergencies take priority.
“The dispatcher can pre-empt any of those units from that assignment to run calls,” Buenik said.
He admitted that does not happen often and some HPD officers told KPRC Local 2 that supervisors are reluctant to pull officers away to handle citizens’ calls, afraid of upsetting city hall.
You’d think (well, I’d think) that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt would rework whatever agreement a previous mayor came up with in light of HPD’s manpower issues…not to mention Houston’s escalating crime problem.
PREVIOUSLY: Chief Hurtt enjoys the owner’s seats
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