El Paso Police Department (EPPD) is the principal law enforcement agency serving El Paso, Texas, United States. As of Fiscal Year 2014, the agency had an annual budget of more than $118 million and employed around 1,300 personnel, including approximately 1,100 officers. Greg Allen was appointed as the EPPD's chief of police in March 2008 and served until his death in January 2023.
History
Early history
The early history of the department is difficult to study. Many older newspaper accounts are inaccurate and documents from before about 1950 were lost in a fire. Newspaper accounts were often heavily exaggerated for local entertainment value or to bolster a "wild west" image for the city to readers in the eastern United States.
The formal establishment date for the department is 1884, but historical references to the department exist before that official date. During this period, the department employed a series of City Marshals who were known to be as rough and wild as the criminals in the frontier town, with shootouts and small scale wars being much more common than today for example in 1881 the "Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight." . Some marshals were involved in confrontations out of town including the El Paso Salt War and the Lincoln County War. It was also not unheard of to have local, state and federal law enforcement at odds, including armed confrontations.
In 1889, the police department had its first appointed chief, T.C. Lyons. Lyons had previously served in the Fire Department and was not the typical "rough" character previously known in El Paso law enforcement. His tenure may mark the beginning of the more modern and civilized approach to law enforcement in the city.
20th century
Newspaper accounts show the police starting to use motor vehicles for law enforcement in 1909. Fingerprinting began in 1915. By the 1920s, pictures are available showing some of these advancements. Radar was introduced for speed enforcement in 1955, and the department formed its first SWAT unit in 1972.
In 1946, the department hired its first African American officer (the official website states that four African American veterans were appointed in 1945) However, between that time and the 1970s-1980s, black officers were not allowed to do many of the things other officers could do, including arrests, driving vehicles or writing reports. The current chief, Greg Allen, is the department's first African American chief. The department started actively recruiting women in the 1940s, but none actually served as officers until 1974. However, during this time women actively served as "meter maids" or worked in the jail. Today, several women have achieved high ranks in the police department and the department has hosted the Women in Law Enforcement conference multiple times.
In 1972, the department opened a second station to serve the east side and parts of the lower valley. Growth since then has increased the number of stations to five (not including the central command). In the 1990s and early 2000s, the department has implemented many other advancements, including computers, cameras and non-lethal weapons like the Taser.
Recent history
Community policing has been an important goal of the police department in recent years. A 2011 study showed that police officers were spending 75% of their time responding to calls and 25% of their time on administrative work with little time left over for community patrols. Since the study, the department implemented several reforms to free up officer time, including privatized prisoner transport from stations to the jail, a call center for non-urgent reports and changes in the ways officers are called to testify. The goal is for "60-20-20" or 60% of time on reactive work (responding to calls), 20% of time on administrative tasks and 20% of time for community patrols and community involvement.
In 2012, the City Council honored Lt. Charles Harvey for serving in the department for 45 years. Harvey is the longest-serving member of the department and currently presides over the Criminal Investigation Division and Tactical Unit at the Central Regional Command. He told an El Paso Times reporter that he does not plan to retire any time soon.
Despite being near the border with Mexico and across the river from Ciudad Juarez (one of the most violent cities in the western hemisphere), El Paso is a very safe city with low crime. This may be caused by the high immigrant population in the city and the generally immigrant-welcoming environment. El Paso has been in the top three large cities (500,000+ population) with the lowest crime rates since 1997, and took the #1 spot for 2010–2013.