HOUSTON — In 2021, are there fewer firefighters and police officers than there were in 2010.
The Verify team got the data from three sources: The City of Houston, The Houston Fire Department, and the Houston Police Department.
The Houston Police Department reports, in 2010, it had 5,259 police officers on the streets. HPD notes it ended fiscal year 2021 with 5,185 officers. That is a loss of 74 classified officers.
But they were not the only ones to experience a loss in first responders.
The Houston Fire Department also saw a drop in firefighters. According to HFD, in 2010, there were 3,940. The HFD estimates there were 3,627 firefighters in fiscal 2021. That is a decrease of 313 classified firefighters.
Combined, that is a loss of 387 first responders in Houston in 2021 when compared to 2010.
So, we can Verify there has been a drop across the board of classified first responders in the City of Houston.
Editor’s note: In a previous version of this story, we used budgeted numbers for all employees of the Houston Fire Department and Houston Police Department. We’ve updated it with actual and estimated numbers of firefighters and police officers.