[5] Shortly after taking office in Houston, Hurtt required police to cover up tattoos with long sleeves, if needed.

[6] This resulted in a group of African American officers filing a lawsuit claiming that they have skin conditions called Pseudofolliculitis barbae or Acne keloidalis nuchae that make it painful to shave.

[8] Houston became the first major city in the nation to fully arm the entire police department with tasers with an authorization of $4.7 million in November 2004, the result of a controversial shooting the previous year.

[10][11] Chief Hurtt was initially brought in to help reorganize a crime lab after scandals that left many cases suspect.

These policies included refusing to hand over arrested illegal aliens to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), causing some to designate Houston a sanctuary city.

Hurtt's policies have been blamed for enabling illegal immigrants to kill two police officers and seriously injure another in Phoenix, Arizona before he left in 2005.