Interim police chief named as Houston veteran retires

  • 2016-02-23
On February 2, Mayor Sylvester Turner held a press conference and announced that Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland would be leaving his position effective February 26. An interim chief for the Houston Police Department (HPD) has been named.

Martha Montalvo, will take over for Chief McClelland when he relinquishes his position. On February 18, the 30 year HPD veteran was named interim police chief by the mayor while a nationwide search is conducted for a permanent replacement. Although the city will be casting a wide net to find its next police chief, it should be noted that Chief McClelland held the position of Interim Chief before being named to the position permanently.

This means that there is a real possibility that Montalvo, who will need to update her Business Cards to read ‘Interim Chief’, might later ask her Print company to change her cards to read simply ‘Chief Martha Montalvo’.

As a Latina, Montalvo’s appointment to the interim position makes her a trailblazer. She has worked in the HPD for over 30 years with her most recent assignment being the department’s Administrative Operations’ executive assistant chief. Included in Administrative Operations are the departments of the Crime Analysis/Command Center, Psychological Services, Internal Affairs, Human Resources, Inspections, Office of Inspector General, and the Training Academy.

Montalvo, a native of Ecuador, South America, moved in 1963 to Houston and entered the Police Academy 17 years later.
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