HOW REFRESHING AND ENCOURAGING it was at Gov. Greg Abbott’s press conference promoting his Back the Blue pledge to be held out as a good example of policing in the highly stressful year of 2020. The governor, as well as U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen tookRead more
Dear HPOU, The family would like to thank you for the beautiful garden dish of various green plants. Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated at this difficult time. Sincerely, Evelyn, Michael & Peggy, James & Michelle, Diane, Grandchildren, and Great GrandchildrenRead more
May God bless you all and protect and guide you all always. Sincerely with love, Nicole & Edward Cardoza and FamilyRead more
Thank you so very much for the plant. -The Aranza Family Thank you for the beautiful flowers you had sent to the funeral home. Sincerely, The Jimmie Schielack Family Dear Union Members, Thank you so much for the plant to honor the life of my husband. He truly enjoyed his work/career with theRead more
“Greater love hath no one than this: That a person lays down their life for a friend” – Jesus He knows you run to danger when others run from it. What courage! With great gratitude for your courageous service to our city and our on going prayers for your wisdom and service with safety andRead more
Officer Danny Saenz is the handler for one of the most productive and prolific confidential informants to ever work for the Houston Police Department Narcotics Division. In August of 2014, Officer Saenz’s informant introduced him to an upper-level narcotics distributor in the area of Hillcroft and the Southwest Freeway. Several controlled buys ensued, and OfficerRead more
Talk about a story that well illustrates how “doing it by the book” can save a life. On. Feb. 22, within an hour or so before Officer Jason Robles II was due to end his evening shift at Westside, he was dispatched to a residence on Meadowglen. A resident had called Dispatch to anxiously reportRead more
Detective Lisa Gonzales was assigned a follow-up investigation on April 30 after an original report was made two days before. The original report stated that the complainant’s father was taking the complainant and his brother to church when he observed the complainant crying in the back seat. When he asked what was wrong, theRead more
The HPOU recognized Sgt. Rob Sandoval and Officer Shannon Barker as Officers of the Month for October for their diligent work to help cadets in Academy Class No. 245 retake the test they needed to graduate. Here are the facts of this great effort. Class No. 245 had a 59 percent fail rate on theRead more
ASHFORD Mrs. Avon Marie Ashford passed away on Thursday, October 8, 2020, at the age of 73. She is the Mother of Senior Police Officer Darrin R. Ashford, assigned to the Office of Planning and Data Governance. Services were held October 24 with burial in Glenwood, Illinois. BAILEY Mr. Earl E. Bailey, Sr. passed awayRead more
BIRD Mr. Donald Bird passed away on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, at the age of 73. He is the brother of retired Lieutenant Ronald Bird who was last assigned to the Jail Division until his retirement on January 19, 1988. Services were held September 24 in The Woodlands. BYRD Mr. James Byrd Sr. passed awayRead more
Editor’s note: Due to deadlines, this article was written prior to election results.
If it seems like not a day passes without you seeing in the news that another police officer was shot in the United States, you are right.
There has been a police officer shot every 28 hours this year That’s 255 as of Nov. 1.
Forty officers made the ultimate sacrifice as a result of that gunfire. While some politicians and news media pundits pontificate that there is no war on police officers, the statistics tell a very different story.
More than the last two years we have seen more than a 26 percent increase in police officers being shot. The current numbers show that it is not slowing down. In fact, it is getting worse – too far out of hand!
I will always express hope that t
I feel like I write this article every year, and every year it becomes more and more important that you get out to vote.
In case you have been living under a rock, we are living in very tumultuous times, especially if you are a police officer. Now more than ever it is your DUTY as a police officer to not only vote, but make sure that you educate your friends, family, co-workers, fellow church goers and anyone else you know on the issues important to us and who to vote for.
Then you need to follow up with folks to make sure they vote. You may need to give them a ride, you may need to take them with you. Be sure to go the extra mile because every vote counts in this election. One seat lost, flipped, one race won or lost can make all the difference in protection of our rights as police
Before the HPD/HPOU rumor mill gets going too quickly, I want to share with you all that my current term ending in December 2021 will be my last as the president of the HPOU.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to be your elected voice in Houston. For the last 10 years I have poured my heart and soul into the Houston Police Officers Union, working tirelessly to take care of every single one of you and your families.
Many have already asked, and I am sure more will, why now? This is purely a family decision, as I would like to spend more time with my daughters as they grow up. This 24/7/365 job as president is not always conducive to spending quality family time.
Do not fret, if you haven’t noticed the HPOU has become an eclectic mix of youth/experience, patrol/investigations, wh
In the wake of the protests and riots we saw across the country, a popular talking point for virtue-signaling politicians, media and Hollywood elites was to defund and dismantle police departments. I can’t begin to tell you how ridiculous this concept is, especially when you are seeing violent crime spiking in every major city across the country.
The murder rate increases in our large cities over last year are nothing short of staggering:
But that didn’t stop places like NY and LA from defunding their police departments to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. All of this despit