Mayor John Whitmire plans to stop repeat offenders and end recruitment issues at HPD

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston's newly elected Mayor John Whitmire pledged to take a tougher stance on crime during his campaign. Now, he'll have to put his words into action.

On Thursday, Whitmire met with Houston Police Chief Troy Finner and other law enforcement officials to address key priority issues surrounding public safety.

"I don't want meetings, I want action," Whitmire said.

Currently, according to our ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker, homicides are down by about 20%. Other crimes are down, but not by much. Burglaries are only down about 5%, robberies and thefts are down by less than 2%, and assaults are down by just less than 1%. Auto thefts and sexual assaults are both up.

One of Whitmire's top priorities for lowering crime rates is to remove repeat offenders from the streets and bring them to justice through the court system.

"There are 900 people on the streets of Houston charged with murder or capital murder waiting to go to court to be held accountable, a very dangerous group," Whitmire said.

As a state senator, Whitmire helped pass legislation that would prioritize trials for those charged with capital murder and murder.

Currently, there are more than 32,000 active felony cases-- 25% of them have been pending for more than a year.

Officials have attributed the backlog to Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19, despite both events happening years ago.

Whitmire's other priority is to address the recruitment issue at the Houston Police Department, which is reportedly struggling with about 2,000 vacancies.

"You can't fix something unless you admit there's a problem," Whitmire said. "We have fewer officers than a couple of years ago, and a lot fewer than we had 20-30 years ago, with our population growing. So what you have to do is be serious about recruiting."

Whitmire said he would be participating in recruitment. He said he has gone to cadet classes to hear what obstacles cadets must overcome to become an HPD officer.

"Officers, cadets, have to purchase a $1,000 service revolver," Whitmire said. "Do you know how many of them have to go to the Police Credit Union and borrow money to buy a revolver before they get their first HPD check?"

In 2022, ABC13 Iooked into this financial burden facing officers in the academy. When we compared Houston to other police departments in major cities like Dallas, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, Houston was the only department where officers were forced to pay for weapons and other necessities out of pocket.

"Nonsense!" Whitmire said. "I can get other corporate sponsors to buy their pistols. You will see a difference and we will have some serious recruitment."

One of his other plans is to collaborate with law enforcement agencies to free up HPD officers who can patrol the neighborhoods and use their resources.

Big plans mean big money, and when asked how much this would cost and where the money would come from, Whitmire said his team is going through audits in every department right now. They plan to figure out where to cut costs and seek state funding.

He said he's not afraid to ask the taxpayers for money if all else fails.

"I am going to do whatever it takes to have adequate fire and police protection for the citizens of Houston," Whitmire said. "They just elected me because that was my message."

Whitmire said he is not worried about statistics but instead plans to judge his success on whether the public feels safer and morale among HPD.

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