With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest municipal police department, serving the fourth-largest city in the United States.

During that same year, the HPD purchased newer weapons to arm their officers: standard issue .44 caliber revolvers and two Thompson submachine guns.

[2] The first African American woman police officer on the force, Margie Duty, joined the HPD in 1953, starting in the Juvenile Division.

The HPD paved a new road again in 1990 when Mayor Kathy Whitmire appointed Elizabeth Watson as the first female chief of police.

In 2002, Bradford was indicted and later acquitted of perjury charges, stemming from an incident in which he allegedly lied under oath about cursing fellow officers.

In November 2002, the CBS local TV station KHOU began broadcasting a multi-part investigation into the accuracy of the HPD Crime Lab's findings.

As a result of those broadcasts, at the end of the week the Houston Police Department declared they would have a team of independent scientists audit the lab and its procedures.

She told them that her son, Josiah Sutton, had been tried for rape in 1999 and found guilty based upon HPD Crime Lab testing.

However, the city panel responsible for disciplining the lab technicians repeatedly resisted these arguments and instead reduced the employees' punishments [citation needed].

In May 2005, the Houston Police Department announced that with much effort and coordination on their part, they had received national accreditation through the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD).

After, Texas State Representative Gary Elkins (R-TX) introduced legislation to deter Houston from amending its city charter for the red light camera rule to be enforced.

The cameras were expected to be reactivated after midnight on July 24, 2011; plans were underway to have this judicial ruling heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

[22] The police chief said the effort will put more officers to work immediately in troubled areas of the city such as Third Ward and Acres Homes, where the bodies of seven women have been found in the past two years.

[23] The crime rate, particularly for violent offenses, since the latter part of 2005, when an influx of hurricane evacuees increased the city's population by more than 100,000, and incidents spiked in certain neighborhoods.

[25] In the morning of May 2, 2020, HPD's helicopter crashed in an apartment complex in north Houston, killing officer Jason Knox and injuring another.

[37] As of 2015, the department uses a large number of Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors as their main fleet of patrol vehicles which was first ordered in 1996 replacing the Chevrolet Caprice 9C1 (used between 1988 and in patrol service until 2004 (replacing the Ford LTD Crown Victoria squads to 1987 along with M-bodied Mopars (primarily the Plymouth Gran Fury (both R and M platform) last used in 1989)).

The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is also used in this manner - as of late 2011 the stealth patrol vehicles are now painted black.

[38][39] A 2023 Houston Chronicle investigation found that high-speed chases by HPD officers rose significantly between 2018 and 2022, leaving hundreds of bystanders injured or dead.

[41] According to the investigation HPD pursued more high-speed chases than Los Angeles; more than Chicago; and more than the next three largest Texas cities after Houston (San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin) combined.

Officers graduating from Cadet Class 231 or later are only authorized to carry the SIG Sauer P320, the Glock 17, or the Smith & Wesson M&P in 9mm as their primary weapon while in uniform.

][51][52][53] The Houston Police Officers Memorial, designed by Texas artist Jesús Moroles, opened in 1991 to honor the duty and sacrifices of members of the department.

[56] In June 2021, police chief Troy Finner apologized to the Torres family, calling the killing "straight-up murder.

[58] Chad Holley was a sophomore at Elsik High School at the time of his arrest in March 2010 as an alleged burglary suspect.

There appeared to be obvious abuse by Houston police officers immediately prior to his arrest that was captured on a security camera video which was leaked to the public.

[62] In September 2010, Officer Tracie Bell was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for stealing over $100,000 from American Red Cross funds earmarked for survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

[66] In October 2012, Officer Abraham Joseph was sentenced to life in prison for raping a handcuffed woman in the back of his police car.

[67] In June 2013, a grand jury refused to indict Officer Matthew Marin after he shot and killed Brian C. Claunch on September 22, 2012.

[69] In October 2013, Officer Adan Jimenez Carranza pleaded guilty to "attempted sexual assault" for raping a woman in the back of his patrol car after investigating a minor traffic accident.

[70][needs update] In late February 2020, the Harris County District Attorney asked local courts to appoint lawyers to represent 69 people who had been convicted based on the testimony of Officer Gerald Goines.

Goines was accused of creating a fictitious informant and making other false statements to obtain a search warrant that resulted in two deaths in a raid on a home in January 2019.