Houston Police Department and Houston IT Services officials told the City Council Public Safety Committee they have revised the Records Management System (RMS) implementation timeline and will seek additional spending authority to ensure a stable transition.

Director Kent and Dr. Melissa Cummins of HPD said the original 12‑month implementation schedule proved unrealistic given the project’s complexity and personnel losses. The RMS is the department’s core database for incident reports and officer interactions, and HPD said it would not rush deployment before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The project team described three principal mitigations: (1) staff augmentation and technical contractors (Mission Critical Partners was contracted last month to provide a solution architect, database administration, programmers and other technical resources); (2) revised sequencing of work to avoid parallel tracks that previously caused rework; and (3) a phased data conversion strategy for millions of records.

Financial and schedule highlights provided to the committee:
- Additional spending authority requested: $11,400,000 (RMS‑related licensing, services and ancillary items).
- Tiburon extension request: $1,870,000 to maintain the legacy Tiburon RMS through May 2027 if additional time is required.
- Other line items called out: ~$615,000 for mobile printers, ~$1,000,000 forecast for data replication and reporting capability, and ~$3,000,000 forecast for outsourced professional services and technical resources.
- Revised RMS go‑live: October 2026. HPD said the date was chosen to avoid World Cup operational conflicts and to provide additional training time.

HPD emphasized data conversion as a major technical challenge. Personnel said the new architecture requires a redesigned analytics environment and careful timing for data locks because the conversion involves millions of records. Dr. Cummins said successful migration would include at least two to three years of historical offense‑report data and that a phased approach — some pre‑go‑live, some post‑go‑live — is planned.

Training and staffing: HPD and HITS plan to deliver 20–30 hours of online, module‑based RMS training starting in February–March before go‑live and continuing up to deployment. HPD said it is developing refresher and repeatable training options for officers who join later.

Computer‑Aided Dispatch (CAD): HITS and HPD also previewed a separate CAD replacement. Presenters said the current CAD system has processed about 3.5 million calls so far this calendar year, is roughly 20 years old and is not enhanced for modern NextGen 9‑1‑1 features. The CAD target go‑live is March 2028; the RFP vendor has been selected but contract negotiations remain ongoing and the vendor name was not announced.

Committee members asked about confidence in the revised timelines. HPD said confidence increased after contracting MCP and realigning resources but cautioned risks remain; the requested Tiburon extension and the $11.4 million spending authority are intended to provide contingency and continuity for front‑line operations while HPD completes data migration and integration work.

The committee did not take a vote at the briefing; HPD and HITS said the council will see related appropriation and contract items at the December 10 agenda and a CAD request in mid‑February.