Charles McClelland

Charles A. McClelland, Jr. was the police chief of the Houston Police Department (HPD) from 2010 through 2016. Joining the department in May 1977, McClelland worked his way up through the ranks, from rookie to assistant chief in 1998, before being asked to step in as acting chief. A graduate of the University of Houston–Downtown, University of Houston–Clear Lake, and the FBI National Academy, he oversaw the department's implementation of tasers and a real-time crime analysis program.

Education

McClelland holds a bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Houston–Downtown and a master's degree in sociology from the University of Houston–Clear Lake, and a graduate from the FBI National Academy.

Career

McClelland became a patrol officer in May 1977, and worked his way up through assignments with sex crimes units and the homicide division.

When racial tensions at the city's Northeast Patrol Division boiled over in 1992, McClelland and Capt. Mike Thaler were brought in to remedy discrimination complaints by black patrolmen. As an assistant chief, he has been at the center of some of HPD's most controversial incidents of recent years, one being the approval of the August 2002 raid on a Kmart parking lot where nearly 300 bystanders were arrested during a crackdown on street racing. McClelland later testified he never saw a subsequent memo authorizing the arrests of spectators as well as racers. He also oversaw the department's implementation of tasers and a real-time crime analysis program, which allows for improved overall crime tracking and analysis 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Known as a meticulous investigator, McClelland was brought into one patrol division to quell racial tensions.

Before becoming acting police chief, McClelland oversaw HPD's investigative operations as an executive assistant chief, which include 1,500 officers, 12 divisions and a $117 million budget.