Houston leaders mark 40th annual March on Crime, stress recruitment and cross-agency collaboration

Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Houston Police Department officials on March 3 proclaimed the city’s 40th annual March on Crime campaign and used an HPD briefing to emphasize recruiting officers, coordinating multiagency enforcement surges and promoting household crime-prevention steps.

Keith Smith, deputy director of the Office of Community Affairs at the Houston Police Department, opened the announcement by tracing the campaign’s history to 1984 and noting that it expanded to Latino communities two years later and became citywide in 1991. He said partner agencies from Harris and Fort Bend counties and the Texas Department of Public Safety participate in the effort year-round.

“Public safety should be our number 1 priority, because if we're not safe, nothing else matters,” Mayor John Whitmire said. Whitmire said the city is conducting targeted surges in roughly nine hot spots and that the mayor’s office and HPD are working to boost officer recruitment and morale. He issued a proclamation recognizing March 3, 2025, as March on Crime (Lucha Contra el Crimen) Day in the City of Houston.

HPD Chief Noe Diaz said crime prevention messaging focuses on small, concrete steps residents can take — securing weapons in vehicles, checking on older relatives to guard against scams and reducing road-rage incidents. “One of my top priorities is making sure that if we if we're carrying guns in our cars, that we're locking our cars, securing our weapons. Because every day, about 8 to 10 handguns or weapons are stolen from vehicles that wind up at crime scene,” Chief Diaz said.

Speakers described the city’s collaborative enforcement approach: Whitmire and others said Metro Police, constables, district attorney’s partners and DPS regularly join HPD surges; the mayor estimated about 75 DPS officers accompany such operations. Officials framed the campaign as both prevention and enforcement, noting outreach and early-intervention efforts with school districts and parents to address juvenile incidents.

A KHOU 11 reporter asked about juvenile crime increases cited on social media. Whitmire emphasized early intervention and school reporting — “If we just had a report of truancy or fighting” — and encouraged parents to engage with schools. Chief Diaz urged parents to monitor children’s social-media use and communications, saying online insults can escalate to violence.

Speakers also discussed officer recruitment and pay. Whitmire and other officials said 400 cadets completed HPD’s academy in 2024. Officials said recruits previously had to borrow about $1,000 to buy a duty firearm, a cost the mayor said a foundation has helped cover, and that the city provided a $10,000 pay increase for cadets that will remain in place.

The event included acknowledgments of partner agencies, law-enforcement leaders and council members present. Officials did not announce new legislation or funding in the briefing; instead they highlighted ongoing initiatives, interagency coordination and public-facing crime-prevention messaging.

Looking ahead, officials said the March recognition is intended to concentrate attention on crime-prevention measures while stressing that enforcement and outreach continue year-round. They said additional community initiatives and targeted enforcement actions are forthcoming but did not specify dates or funding sources.