|
|
Home  Luncheons Government & Elected Officials Harold L. Hurtt, Chief, Houston Police Department
|
Harold L. Hurtt, Chief, Houston Police Department |
|
|
|
 Chief Hurtt, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, began his law enforcement career as a patrolman in the Phoenix Department in 1968. He retired in 1992 to become chief of the Oxnard, California, Police Department. He returned to the Phoenix Police Department as its chief in April 1998.
Hurtt is a noted proponent of the “community policing” concept. He has been innovative, helping institute neighborhood police storefronts. He incorporated the Oxnard Police Department's cable television program, “Street Beat,” into that department's community policing effort. In Phoenix, he instituted his “knock-and-talk” campaign, going door to door in that city's neighborhoods to listen to residents' concerns about police and community issues. He also led efforts to increase the number of officers who speak Spanish, Chinese and Vietnamese in the diverse Phoenix community.
In 2002, Hurtt was selected by his peers as president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, an organization of the 57 largest police forces in the Unites States and Canada. When the nation's second-largest police force, in Los Angeles, was ordered by a federal court consent decree to undergo major reforms in 2001, Hurtt was chosen among a select team of monitors to oversee that effort.
Violent crime rates have fallen more than 9 percent during Hurtt's tenure as chief in Phoenix. Property crime fell about 4 percent. Crime rates decreased nearly 30 percent during his time as chief in Oxnard.
Hurtt graduated from Arizona State University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. He earned a master's degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix in 1991.
Hurtt, 57, was born in Campbell County, Virginia. He and his wife, Lonetta, have four grown children and six grandchildren. |
|