Mayor of Texas city surprises police cadets graduating academy with raises

Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced a $10,000 raise for police cadets and additional incentives during a visit to the academy. 

Whitmire visited members of Cadet Class #267 on Monday alongside newly-installed police chief Noe Diaz.

There he revealed the cadets will receive a boost in their base salary from $42,000 to $52,000. After they complete the academy and Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Certification they will get a $5,000 one-time incentive.

Once they finish their probationary period, the officer's salary will increase to $62,574. 

'This is an investment in the men and women of our police department who put their lives on the line daily to keep our community safe,' said Whitmire. 

'Each one of you has committed to public service. The pay increase is a start in the right direction to let men and women across this state, this nation, and this great city know that we want you to become a Houston police officer.'

The new base salary for Houston cadets is just above the national average of $50,741 for new police graduating from the academy, according to Glassdoor.

They Mayor's office said there are currently 46 cadets in class #267 who will graduate in March 2026.

The FY 2025 budget includes funding for six police cadet classes and Whitmire encouraged the class to help with recruitment.

'I hope you recommend somebody else to join this fine organization because the better days are in front of us, and someday, I hope one of you will aspire to be a commander or a chief,' said Whitmire.

'The model we want in Houston is law enforcement that protects the public, protects yourself, and your family. And I'll even go a step further. I've wanted to say this to a group of officers, certainly cadets. It's appropriate when you pull somebody over, I believe it's your duty to treat that person like a family member.'  

Diaz was appointed by Whitmire on on August 14, 2024 after the previous police chief Troy Finner resigned in May amid a probe into hundreds of thousands of uninvestigated cases.

Finner took an early retirement as police investigated the dropping of more 4,000 sexual assault cases that are among more than 264,000 incident reports never submitted for investigation. 

Whitmire, a Democrat who was elected in December, gave a bleak warning at a City Hall meeting in March where he proposed a five percent cut across all city spending to alleviate the cash-flow problem.

'I think we can all agree that we're broke,' Whitmire said, before proposing the planned cuts.

'This gives us a chance to discuss the financial picture of this City. It is broken! It was broken when I got here.'