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First Female Police Chief
On January 19, 1990, Mayor Kathy Whitmire appointed Deputy
Chief Elizabeth "Betsy" Watson as chief of police. Under Chief Watson, the
department established the Personnel Concerns Program. This program was designed
to give direct attention to and provided remedial action for employees demonstrating
behavioral problems.
Lee v. City of Houston
In March 1991, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on the long-running
lawsuit known as Lee v. City of Houston. The lawsuit was a direct result of
the hiring of civilian executives and managers into positions that where previously
held by ranking officers. The court held that "if a particular job assignment
requires no knowledge of police work in the department, and entails no supervision
of classified officers, the position need not be classified." But it held that
the statute did prohibit non-classified employees from supervising classified
officers.
Chief Sam Nuchia
Chief Sam Nuchia performed a number of noteworthy achievements
during his tenure beginning in 1992:
- The Special Response Group was formed and trained to handle large crowds
and special events. (1993)
- Response time on Code One call was lowered to 4.4 minutes from a previous
high of 6.1 minutes in 1991. (1994)
- New step pay increases were established for officers with 17 years in
grade and sergeants and lieutenants with 3 and 8 years in grade respectively.
(1994)
- The Women's Advisory Council was created to review concerns of female
officers who, incidental, now comprised 11 percent of the police force.
(1995)
- Officers with 20 or more years experience were eligible for the new Deferred
Retirement Option Program. (1995)
Preparing for the New Century
In January 1997, Assistant Chief Clarence O. "Brad" Bradford
was sworn in as the new chief of police for the city of Houston. Chief Bradford
was a 17-year veteran of the Houston Police Department and was also a licensed
attorney. Chief Bradford pledged to "cultivate community relations and to suppress
crime."
"Meet and Confer"
"Meet and confer" was a bill signed into law by Governor George
W. Bush in 1997 that allowed officers to vote for a representative organization
to negotiate for them with the city administration on compensation, benefits
and working conditions.
In November 1998, the "meet and confer" package was approved by City Council.
This resulted in one of the largest compensation increases for police officers
in the history of HPD. The contract created the rank of executive assistant
chief and provided for a basic annual pay structure for the department's 5,324
classified officers.
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