First, I would like to thank all the members of the Arabic community for showing their utmost love and respect to me over the years. Since my promotion to Assistant Chief of Houston Police Department, I have received many heartwarming messages for which I am truly grateful.
I believe that Houston is one of the best cities in the world. Many of us arrived to this city with a hope for a better future, and this city has provided us with an environment for all our personal success. Having said that, in this article for the Lebanon Time Magazine, I will briefly explain my wonderful 20 years with the Houston Police Department and how this city gave me an opportunity to achieve my dreams.
I was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States of America in 1985 at the age of 8. I joined the Houston Police Department in 2001 and obtained my Master’s degree in Criminology from University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2006 while serving as a full-time police officer with the department.
I worked in various assignments throughout my 20 years with the Houston Police Department. I worked as a patrol officer, crash investigator, DWI investigator, and Field Training Sergeant. I obtained advance crash training in crash reconstruction and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE). Lastly, I also worked undercover with Houston Police Department Gang and Crime Suppression Team to catch criminals who specifically targeted Houstonians of South Asians and Middle Eastern descent. I promoted to Sergeant in the summer of 2009, Lieutenant in October of 2017, Commander in 2017, and Assistant Chief on April 17, 2021. I worked in the following Houston Police Department Divisions: Central, S. Gessner, Westside, Midwest, Vehicular Crimes, Jail, and Major Assaults & Family Violence as a Commander. Currently as Assistant Chief, I am the head over Patrol Region 3 Command, which contains the majority of the South Asian and Middle Eastern residents.
I have vast experience in educating others in many crime prevention topics. I specifically trained cadets and officers at police academy on various subjects such as DWI Investigations, Procedural Justice, and Building Trust from Trauma.
The part I really enjoy about my profession is that I work with great officers who shared a similar passion of mine which is to reduce crime and work closely with all the communities in our wonderful city. Through relational policing, I have been very fortunate to meet many esteemed members from the Arabic community who sincerely care other human beings and truly want to do good things for their community.
I would like to give a very special thanks to Chief Troy Finner who handpicked me for the Assistant Chief position from many other qualified commanders and candidates because of my relentless leadership in the community, experience, and relational policing methods. With this new leadership role, I will continue to work with our community partners to build trust and make out city safer.
