Introduction
The Houston Police department (HPD) serves the city of Texas as the primary agency for law enforcement. The agency’s mission is to improve quality of life, preserve peace, and reduce fear through working cooperatively with other offices, such as the Sherriff’s office, under the US constitution. The agency is the fifth largest in the USA serving the fourth most populous state with 29.53 million people (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). HPD has a diverse staff of 5,300 police officers and 1,200 civilian backing staff (Oluyomi et al., 2021). The police department staff comprises 88% males and 12% females; the staff is further racially categorized as 37% white, 42% African American, 18% Hispanic, and 3% Asian (Oluyomi et al., 2021). The agency serves in a jurisprudence dominated by three racial groups, 44.5% Hispanics, 24.1% whites, and 22.1% blacks (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). The department makes its operations possible by patrolling the city and other public-related roles such as traffic, counterterror, and emergency response. The agency’s success is important because the people’s quality of life depends on it, and all challenges facing it must be eliminated.
Challenges Facing the Agency
Challenges facing a police agency must be solved promptly to avoid a stalemate in service delivery. The Houston Police Department has been operating since 1841, founded by two brothers, Augustus and John (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). The management of the police department have managed to stand the test of time by overcoming the agency’s challenges. The number of staff serving the forces has been reducing drastically due to inadequate staff retention measures. Further, the police department needs to catch up in criminal investigations because of the little investment in technology advancements in law enforcement. The two distinct challenges jeopardizing operations at HPD are poor staff retention and inadequate investment in technology.
Poor Police Retention Strategies
Serving effectively at a police department requires full commitment and passion for serving the citizens selflessly. Reduced passion affects the operations and causes officers to resign and seek employment in other sectors of the economy. Consequently, service delivery is jeopardized. The resignation in the police department increased by 18% between 2020 and 2021 (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). As more police officers leave duty, the efficiency of service delivery is affected. The number of people joining the forces is less than the number of officers leaving office. The lack of retention strategies makes the police department understaffed, and currently, it needs more than 2,000 staff to operate effectively (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). It is imperative to note that even though there are facilities to expand the police department, staff morale is at stake.
Poor Investment in Technology
Technological advancement has increased crime complexity as cybercriminals use the internet to perpetrate their activities. The police department must also have the correct technology to comprehend and charge offenders. Although the Houston Police Department has a fully operational office of technology management, it needs to be more budgeted and, therefore, operate effectively. The agency lacks adequate biometric technology to identify criminals. The department has limited kits, which delays identification cases (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). Further, there are fewer vehicle pursuit darts, police drones, and gunshot detectors, which makes it impossible for police agencies to deal with criminals effectively. As a result of the underinvestment in technology, the agency needs to catch up in the fight against terror and crimes involving technology.
Pillars of the 21st-Century Policing
The role of the police is to enforce law and order and maintain peace in society. President Barrack Obama formed an eleven-member task force to determine the changes that must be made in the police department to increase its effectiveness (Yu, 2022). The task force offered a six-pillar framework that could be used to make the police department better. The pillars are building trust and legitimacy, policing and oversight, technology, community policing, training, and officer wellness and safety (Kahn & Martin, 2020). While the Houston Police Department has aligned its operations to some of the suggestions made by the task force, some still need to be implemented, jeopardizing the police force. Building trust and legitimacy is the first pillar that requires the agency to maintain a positive relationship with society. Failure to abide by the police has made numerous officers want to leave the department to work with others who offer a higher quality of life.
Recommendations to Command Staff to address the two Challenges
Command staff plays a key role in the day-to-day running of a police department. One of the major roles is to investigate the current trends in the police force and ensure that the operations are aligned with the changing corporate landscape. Further, the command staff plays a key role in making the police force understand the challenges affecting the police and helping them increase their morale. The leadership roles can be improved, and police can be more effective if the command staff clearly understands the six pillars of 21st-century policies. The challenges facing the Houston Police Department can be eliminated if the commanders apply a holistic approach to increasing workers’ morale as guided by the six pillars (Kahn & Martin, 2020). It is imperative to note that the contemporary corporate domain undergoes numerous changes, and the leaders in the police department must understand the pillars and align all their decisions to them. The two key recommendations that are aligned to the pillars of the 21st century policing include the formation of pre-academy programs to increase loyalty and patriotism and investment in technology, training and police welfare.
Formation of Pre-Academy Programs to Increase Loyalty and Patriotism
Pre-academy programs are meant to introduce young people and other members of the society to the police force and help them develop positive relationships with society. When the officers in the police force pass through the academies, their perspectives will be changed, and they will serve the agency with patriotism (Kahn & Martin, 2020). The recommended action will likely make the police officers more determined to serve the nation. The current challenge of officers quitting duty is a manifestation of being less patriotic.
Making policies aligned with society is key to the force’s success. HPD complies with the policy because it has employed over 1,200 civilians to work with them to understand the needs of society (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). Technology and social media to streamline the police force are the third pillars that must be implemented for success. Houston still needs to achieve success in using technology and must be aligned for success (Yu, 2022). Working with the locals to reduce crime is an important pillar that increases the officer’s job satisfaction. When the police work against society, satisfaction is likely to be jeopardized, and more officers are likely to quit as experienced. HPD has a community service division to ensure officers work in tandem with societal norms.
Investment in Technology, Training and Police Welfare
Technology advancement and social media users have changed how police officers operate in the discourse. The underinvestment in technology makes the police less effective in performing their duty. The police commanders must therefore invest in technology for communication and daily operations. The information technology sub-department must be empowered to have all police officers trained on using the latest technology to combat crime (Bowman, 2021). Further, investment in social media helps the police force increase communication with the community and improve communication.
Education and training is the fifth pillar, while officer safety and wellness is the last framework for effective policy engagement with society. While training and educational development is taken seriously in the Houston Police Department, welfare is not a big consideration because of the understaffing (Yu, 2022). Fewer officers make commanders assign them duties for long hours as several officers quit the workforce. In line with the two challenges affecting the police force in the region, the command staff is to have pre-academy programs for members of the society to familiarize themselves with the police and the community (Bowman, 2021). Further, the commanders must invest in technology and training to make the officers more proficient in using technology.
Conclusion
The Houston Police Department offers critical services in Texas and assures the people of peace and stability. The police department, however, faces challenges likely to affect its operations. One of the significant challenges is that some officers quit their job for other employment opportunities. The challenge can be eliminated by increasing the people’s patriotism and loyalty through the relevant academies. Investment in technology is an antidote to coping with the challenges affecting the police department—the six pillars of 21st-century policing help in making the police service better. The police commanders must therefore ensure that patriotism is increased alongside better technology use to have a positive relationship with society for smooth service delivery.
References
Bowman, A. D. (2021). Servant leadership: Propositions for improving police/community relationships. International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science, 2(10), 8–20.
Kahn, K. B., & Martin, K. D. (2020). The social psychology of racially biased policing: Evidence-based policy responses. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(2), 107-114. Web.
Oluyomi, A. O., Gunter, S. M., Leining, L. M., Murray, K. O., & Amos, C. (2021). COVID-19 community incidence and associated neighborhood-level characteristics in Houston, Texas, USA. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(4), 14-95. Web.
Yu, H. H. (2022). Policing reforms in the 21st century: Examining racial diversity post-executive order 13684. Policing: An International Journal, 45(2), 346–364. Web.
Zhang, Y., & Zhao, S. (2021). Disorder-oriented policing: A revealing case study of a special differential response unit in the Houston police department. Crime & Delinquency, 2(1), 36–43. Web.