The city of South Houston's first evidence of Law Enforcement was a City Marshall. The office was formed in early 1943 and was abolished in 1956. At time the office of Chief of Police was created, thus the establishment of a Police Department was formed.

The Police Department was housed in the still existing City Hall building. The Police Department consisted of the Chief's office, a dispatch room, 2 prisoner cells or approximately 588 square feet of space.

Everything in the Police Department was done by hand. All reports and logs were hand written. Of course, the Police Department did not employ many officers, 4 dispatchers and 7 reserve officers.

In 1984 the existing Police force petitioned the City Council to go under Civil Service Laws. The City Fathers refused to adopt Civil Service Laws for the Police Department, so the force went on a 6 month tour to get the Civil Laws put on the next regular scheduled election so the citizens of South Houston could vote on the issue. The issue was placed on the ballot at the next election and the citizens of South Houston passed the referendum by an 84% margin. Civil Service Laws, 1269M, or better known now as the Civil Service Laws, Chapter 143 of the Local Government Code went into effect in October 1984.

In 1987 the Police Department officially moved from the still existing City Hall building to across the street where it is still presently housed. At present, the Police Department remodeled the existing building at 1023 Dallas St. and is now housed in the 14,000 square foot, 2 story building. The Police Department now has 6 jail cells and a detox. tank. The complete jail will house 24 prisoners and is jail certified by State of Texas standards.

At present in 2007 the Police Department consists of 32 full time officers, plus the Chief of Police, 8 reserve officers, 6 dispatchers and 3 secretaries and/or record clerks. The Police Department paperwork is now 95% run on computers. The Police Department now has a narcotics unit, bike patrol officers, and public relations officer. If you broke this down by classification they are as follows: 1 Chief, 2 Captains (1 patrol and 1 administration), 6 Sergeants (4 patrol, 1 detective and 1 training) 17 officers assigned to patrol and 6 officers assigned to the detective division.

The patrol cars are all equipped with audio and visual equipment. The Police Department has presently 5 officers on its staff with a Master Police Officer Certification, the highest certification presently awarded by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Education.

The Police Department can still foresee many changes forthcoming in the future as we merge into the 21st century.