I have three things to say about this.
As thousands of protesters gathered at Houston City Hall earlier this year during the No Kings protest against President Donald Trump’s multimillion-dollar military parade, Houston police leaders spent more than $102,000 on police overtime to ensure there were enough officers on hand to maintain peace.
So if police spent more than $100,000 for an planned, nationally coordinated protest featuring up to 15,000 protesters and around 204 officers, what do they do when an estimated 500,000 people come to Houston for the world’s premier soccer tournament? Police leaders’ spending and planning for a comparatively moderate-sized event like the protest in June, shown through an open records request, provides insight into the size and scope of planning for major events, like the FIFA World Cup and the Republican National Convention and another No Kings protest due to descend on the city in the coming months and years.
Houston police’s overtime costs reached a new high of $74 million this fiscal year, which ran from May 2024 to April 2025. That’s up 26% from the previous fiscal year and eclipses the city’s police overtime budget of about $45 million.
Other agency initiatives, such as traffic enforcement, have been major drivers for the steady uptick in overtime spending, an issue experts say will only get worse in coming years.
[…]
Whereas the No Kings protest drew thousands of people in front of city hall, events like the World Cup and the RNC can attract tens to hundreds of thousands more. The 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee, for instance, brought 50,000 people to the city and the police department spent more than $1.6 million in overtime staffing the event. More than 74,000 people attended the last NCAA Final Four in Houston.
Officials with the Houston Police Department declined to answer follow-up questions about the agency’s overtime spending on major events, instead urging the Chronicle to file open records requests for any additional information. Mayor John Whitmire’s office did not respond to requests for comment about how the city is planning to budget for future overtime.
But at least one retired supervisor at the agency said the bill from the No Kings event was not atypical. Gregory Fremin, a retired captain from the Houston Police Department, said major events cost the agency lots of overtime funding, with presidential visits being among the most expensive.
1. We could, perhaps, spend less on police presence for the various anti-Trump rallies that will continue to occur, as they by now have a pretty long history of being peaceful. Unless, of course, the point is to keep the protesters safe from violent counter-protesters. I do support that.
2. I don’t know what the mechanisms are for cities to get some form of reimbursement for the law enforcement and related expenses they incur when hosting a major event like the World Cup. I suppose all that is wrapped up in the bid the cities make for hosting them, and if they don’t cover that in some way it’s on them. That said, I have to think that the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority and any other committee involved in the planning and execution of this event should have some plan to at least defray these costs. A lot of rich folks are going to be paying a lot of money to watch these games. Make good use of that.
3. Whatever the case with the first two points, we really need to get our police overtime costs under control. We spend plenty on HPD to begin with, and we don’t have that kind of slack in the city budget.
UPDATE: From Jeremy Wallace:
Up: FIFA World Cup.
With Dallas and Houston hosting a combined 16 matches in next year’s world soccer showcase, police in both communities are going to be pressed to their limits to provide security. But they won’t be completely on their own. Under a big spending bill passed by Congress this summer, there is a provision that will include $625 million for FIFA World Cup security costs around the nation. The White House has made clear the money is aimed at helping all 11 host cities in the U.S. cover police overtime and other security equipment for the World Cup. Reporter Matt DeGrood looked at how Houston has already been struggling with big police overtime costs for other events.
Good to know. Just as long as it’s not subject to “recission”.