HOUSTON, TX – On Wednesday, May 21st, the Houston City Council approved a $1 billion contract with the Houston Police Officers Union, making the Houston Police Department (HPD) the highest paid police department in the state of Texas.
According to ABC13, the agreement outlines a series of raises for officers over the next five years, with officers receiving a total pay bump of 37 percent. The department has faced a staffing shortage, as is seen with many police departments across the nation. HPD Chief Noe Diaz said, “These additional resources will be essential in retaining our seasoned officers while also growing our ranks with new recruits.”
Diaz said that he plans to poach officers from nearby law enforcement entities and said that more than 200 officers who identify themselves as employees of nearby departments used a QR code over a 24-hour period indicating that they wanted more information on joining HPD.
He said that approximately 75 of the 200 officers identified themselves as members of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO). On Wednesday, HPD posted a flyer on social media advertising a lateral officer class for September. The post stated that the department is seeking officers with three or more years of experience. The chief said, “That’s what we’re gonna target. The people that we already have here.”
Houston City Council greenlit the HPD agreement minutes after a public hearing on the budget proposal. The agreement was baked into the proposed FY 2026 budget. During the hearing, several council members and constituents expressed concern regarding proposed funding cuts to other city departments.
District F. Council Member Edward Pollard said, “Today we are taking care of our police officers, but we also need to find ways to take care of the other employees as well.” The FY 2026 budget proposal shows the Neighborhoods Department, for example, set to lose half of its general fund money, dropping from $14 to $7 million. Similarly, the Health Department is set to face a $7 million cut.
Diaz pushed back against insinuations that officer pay bumps resulted in cuts to other city departments. He said that the police department was also subject to recent cuts. While uniformed officers will receive raises, many civilian HPD services are being consolidated with city departments. More than 100 department civilian employees also accepted a city employment retirement buyout package that went into effect May 1st.
Diaz said the reorganization efforts resulted in the loss of approximately 50 percent of the civilian staff at HPD headquarters over the past seven months. He stressed, “There’s no blank check. There’s not endless pot of gold.”
In light of the HPD pay bump, the Sheriff’s Office requested pay raises from Harris County Officials. ABC13 reported that the organization representing Harris County deputies sounded the alarm, warning that the wage gap could trigger a mass departure from the sheriff’s office, endangering public safety.
Under the proposed deal, starting salaries for HPD officers would jump to $75,000, nearly $20,000 more than what a first-year deputy currently earns. Jose Lopez, president of the Harris County Deputy Organization said such a disparity could lead to dozens of deputies leaving HCSO for better-paying HPD jobs. He said, “I’m hearing numbers between 60 to 70.”
On Thursday, May 22nd, Harris County commissioners voted 3-2 to approve an increase in deputy salaries that will start in the 2026 fiscal year. The goal for commissioners is to have pay parity with HPD in order to prevent a mass exodus of law enforcement leaving the county. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said it would take $140 million to make the raises happen. He’s proposed doing it through the elimination of what he calls “wasteful spending.”
The county is already in a $130 million deficit and this increase will put them in a $270 million deficit. Lopez said, “This is monumental for us, again, we’re very excited for it. Us achieving pay parity is what we wanted. This is going to help us retain the deputies we have.”
