TX City turns to technology to ease police shortage

Dallas isn’t the only major Texas city suffering from a severe shortage of police officers, with Houston looking to fill the gap by deploying new technology.

As previously reported The Dallas Express, police response times in Dallas exceeded department goals due to a shortage of about 1,000 officers. By budgeting just $654 million of taxpayer money for DPD this fiscal year, Dallas city officials chose to spend far less on public safety than other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Houston and Dallas have turned to technology to ease their officer shortages. According to a report from Houston Public Media:

“Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced last week that he wants to end the city’s contract with ShotSpotter, the controversial audio surveillance system that detects gunshots and notifies police.

“Houston Police Department Acting Chief Larry Satterwhite recently said that due to staffing shortages, the department is relying more on Flock security cameras, a license plate scanning camera program. registration that tracks vehicle license plates and notifies police of forwarded links to crimes.

“On Tuesday’s Houston Matters, Dr. Everette Penn, Clear Lake professor at the University of Houston and founder of the Teens and Police Services Academy, said HPD, along with other departments, are finding themselves in a difficult situation and must rely on such technologies to assist the police.

“’They’re in a difficult situation due to the lack of staffing of officers who can fight crime on a daily basis, so innovation is necessary,’ Penn said. “And when this innovation raises questions, we must turn to technology.”

“Penn added that effective policing to reduce crime would involve having officers on the street.”

To read the full article from Houston Public Media, please click HERE.