While Florida police officers brace for the purported devastation coming from Hurricane Irma, a few hundred Houston cops lost homes due to the recent fury of Hurricane Harvey. Houston’s first responders raced to scenes while floodwaters enveloped their residences. Still working round-the-clock search/rescue ops, many Houston police officers have no home left to go to, and have been receiving help from area churches and a special fund called AssistTheOfficer.com.
Founded in 1993 and located in Houston, Assist The Officer (ATO) is a non-profit entity which receives monetary donations and aims to provide “short-term, immediate need financial assistance for officers critically injured or disabled in the line of duty. Assist The Officer symbolizes the appreciation for every officer’s dedicated service and commitment to the safety of citizens,” according to its website. Recovering from Harvey’s destructive measures has been added to ATO’s purpose.
Reports are that approximately 200 Houston law enforcement officers lost their homes in the ravages and massive flooding brought about by Hurricane Harvey:
200 Houston area police officers have lost their homes. Donations to help @HPOUTX officers can be made at https://t.co/pGt9HFxzIR 💙🇺🇸
— Assist The Officer (@atofortworth) August 31, 2017
There is also an ATO partner in Forth Worth, Texas whose police officers came out in droves to help with search/rescue efforts posed by Hurricane Harvey’s impacts. Lines of hungry cops snaked out doors of civic centers and unaffected structures, as depicted on Texas police Twitter accounts:
Line out the door at the Union Hall feeding 130 officers from @FWPOA /San Antonio who came to assist our officers protecting our community pic.twitter.com/97DzkveXkJ
— Houston Police Officers' Union (@HPOUTX) August 31, 2017
Houston Strong
The Houston Police Department has a strength of about 5200 sworn police officers and roughly 1200 civilian support staff. Houston cops are reinforced by the Houston Police Officers Union (HPOU) which has set up a Harvey Relief Fund. All donations are 100-percent dedicated to Houston police whose homes, personal cars and possessions were destroyed.
HPOU reports that Houston police officers remain on active-duty, despite the severe losses they have sustained due to the enormity of Hurricane Harvey.
Chief Acevedo exposed glimpses of both the mental anguish derived from such a catastrophic event as well as the resilience in physically working through it, despite deep personal loss
Lauded as an excellent, innovative, and candid police executive, Houston police Chief Art Acevedo honored members of his force whose homes he visited in the aftermath. Via his Twitter account, Chief Acevedo exposed glimpses of both the mental anguish derived from such a catastrophic event as well as the resilience in physically working through it, despite deep personal loss:
Went to home of @houstonpolice who stayed on post while heroic wife & 9 yr old daughter escaped flood waters with sheet from 2nd flr bedroom pic.twitter.com/Dfii2GeCRg
— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) September 4, 2017
Sadly, with Hurricane Irma on the way and Hurricane Jose trailing behind her on the same pathway, this may be a sign of things to be replicated and confronted by Florida law enforcement. MarketWatch.com claims the estimated tab from Hurricane Harvey is about $190 billion. If only meteorologists were grossly wrong when they say that Hurricane Irma is going to dwarf the effects of Hurricane Harvey. If only.
