Chief Art Acevedo stressed efficiency when he took his position six months ago. Now, he’s announced the steps he’s taking towards that goal.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has mentioned several times how under staffed the police department is.

"We've grown in 20 years by 500,000 residents, yet we have 300 fewer officers. I don't know the number," Acevedo says.

That is why they are taking steps to become more efficient.

Acevedo announced they are putting a time limit on how long the disciplinary process can take, reviewing the paperwork process to ensure there is no duplications, and creating a 911 system that can tell an officer if a person has some sort of impairment like autism or dementia, so that the officer can handle the situation accordingly.

In order to do all these things efficiently, Acevedo says the department most rely on data.

"We have to look at data we have to be data driven and intelligence led," Acevedo says.

He also mentioned focusing on non-fatal shootings.

"When you discharge a firearm, we're not going to wait until somebody dies," Acevedo says. "We are going to respond with investigators, with detectives to start working those nonfatal shootings as if they were a homicide."

Acevedo is advocating that the city's cap on how much they can collect from property taxes is lifted so that the department can purchase more resources and become better staffed.

Subscribe to Today in Houston Fill out the form below to subscribe our new daily editorial newsletter from the HPM Newsroom. Email* First Name Last Name * required