Houston to deploy additional police officers from various departments to help deal with Beryl’s aftermath – Houston Public Media

Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media

Interim Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said it’s going to take some getting used to seeing out-of-town officers on Houston streets in the coming days. Houston deployed officers from 16 Texas cities to the streets after Hurricane Beryl.

Satterwhite contacted Nim Kidd, head of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, who worked out the details for the state to pay for agents to be sent to Houston.

“They’ll bring in marked cars. So one of them will have a Dallas police officer and one of them will have a Houston police officer,” Satterwhite said. “Also, in one of our police cars, we’ll be working in tandem in our neighborhoods with additional officers, to have that backup.”

On Thursday, 100 out-of-town police officers came to Houston to help officers who were working 12-hour shifts. Satterwhite said the extra officers could be there all weekend.

“We don’t anticipate needing them after Sunday night. We think we might be able, after Center Point makes progress, to have them go home to their agencies,” Satterwhite said. “It might take longer depending on the situation we’re facing.”

Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Chief Satterwhite are calling on Center Point Energy to step up efforts to restore all power to the city in order to quickly return the additional officers home.

Mayor John Whitmire said he was confident the plan would work and stressed cooperation and collaboration with DPS to help Houston from a public safety perspective. Officers will be deployed over the next three days, or until CenterPoint Energy can restore power to the city.