Kathryn Jean Whitmire is an American politician, businesswoman, and accountant best known as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston, serving for five consecutive two-year terms from 1982 to 1992. From 1977 to 1981, she was the city controller, a position which made her the first woman elected to any office in the city. Whitmire drew national attention when she defeated former Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard in her election as mayor. The election drew national focus because it symbolized a major political realignment in the fourth-largest city in the United States.
Florence Donald Shapiro is an American politician from Texas. Her political career lasted over 30 years and coincided with Plano's growth from a bedroom community of 17,000 to a city of almost 300,000 residents. After moving to Plano in 1972, she served on the Plano City Council from 1979 to 1990 and served as the city's first female and Jewish elected mayor from 1990 to 1992.
Oran Milo Roberts, was an American politician who served as the 17th Governor of Texas from January 21, 1879, to January 16, 1883. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Elizabeth Earle Rawls was an American professional golfer who played on LPGA Tour. She won eight major championships and 55 LPGA Tour career events. She was a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Priscilla Richman is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She served as Chief Judge of that court from 2019 to 2024. She was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1995 to 2005.
The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary municipal law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest municipal police department, serving the fourth-largest city in the United States. Its headquarters are at 1200 Travis in Downtown Houston.
Kirk Preston Watson is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 59th mayor of Austin since 2023, previously holding the office as the 54th mayor from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran unsuccessfully for Texas attorney general in the 2002 election, where he was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott, later governor of Texas. In 2006, Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14.
Maria Wallis QPM was the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in the United Kingdom from 2002 until 26 July 2006. A native of County Fermanagh, she commanded the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary which included responsibility for 3,500 police officers, more than 2,000 civilian staff and 362 police community support officers. Chief Constable Wallis commanded the largest geographical police area in England, extending 180 miles from the Dorset and Somerset borders in the east to the Isles of Scilly in the west.
The history of the Houston Police Department started with the founding of the City of Houston. While the department's beginning was humble, it grew more advanced as technology became available and was able to handle the various challenges that would plague various cities as well as some of the more distinctive aspects of its geography.
Mark Anthony Welsh III is the 27th president of Texas A&M University, former Dean of the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University, a retired United States Air Force four-star general, and a member of the board of directors of Northrop Grumman. Prior to his current role, he served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the United States Senate. Prior to that, General Welsh served as Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, as the Associate Director for Military Affairs of the Central Intelligence Agency, and as the Vice Commander of Air Education and Training Command. In earlier portions of his career, he served as a fighter pilot and was a commander at the squadron, group and wing level, in addition to assignments in training, operations, intelligence and acquisitions. He also served as the commandant of cadets of the United States Air Force Academy.
David O'Neal Brown is an American police officer who served as the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department from 2020 to 2023 and as chief of the Dallas Police Department from 2010 to 2016.
Barbara Elizabeth Cornelius Price is an American businesswoman and politician who served as mayor of Fort Worth, Texas through 2021. She was first elected to the nonpartisan office on June 18, 2011. Price previously served 2½ terms as the elected Tarrant County tax assessor-collector, from 2001 to 2011. She is a Republican who describes herself as fiscally conservative, deplores polarization and extremist tendencies in both major parties, and professed a commitment to work for the entire community as an elected local official.
The murders of John Forest "Johnny" Goosey and Stacy Marie Barnett occurred on July 21, 2009, in the West Campus area of Austin, Texas, when a man, who had two accomplices, shot to death two recent graduates from the University of Texas at Austin who originated from the Greater Houston area. This event is sometimes called the West Campus murders. Police stated that the murder was the result of a drug deal debt. The murder resulted in media attention on the marijuana trade among young, college-educated people.
Celia Marie Israel is an American politician and incumbent Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector. She previously represented the 50th district in the Texas House of Representatives and was succeeded by State Representative James Talarico when she chose to run for Austin Mayor. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Derrick Deshaun Watson is an American professional football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Clemson Tigers, leading the team to a national championship in 2016. Watson was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Houston Texans.
Kathleen K. Gilmore was an American archaeologist and specialist on Spanish colonial archaeology. She was the first archaeologist to prove the location of Fort St. Louis, established by the French explorer, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. She received the J. C. Harrington Award of Society for Historical Archaeology in 1995, the first woman ever honored by the society.
Gina Nicole Calanni is a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from House District 132 in the western part of Harris County, including Katy, Cypress, and West Houston. On November 6, 2018, she defeated two-term Republican incumbent Mike Schofield—to whom she later lost in a reelection bid—and became the first woman to represent Texas House District 132.
Atatiana Koquice Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, was fatally shot inside her home by a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, in the early morning of October 12, 2019. Police arrived at her home after a neighbor called a non-emergency number, stating that Jefferson's front door was open. Police body camera footage showed officers walking outside the home with flashlights for a few minutes then one officer yells, "Put your hands up! Show me your hands!", while discharging his weapon through a window. Police found a handgun near Jefferson's body, which according to her eight-year-old nephew, she was pointing toward the window before being shot. On October 14, 2019, Officer Aaron Dean, the shooter, resigned from the Fort Worth Police Department and was arrested on a murder charge. On December 20, 2019, Dean was indicted for murder. Jefferson was black and the officer who shot her is white, prompting news outlets to compare Jefferson's shooting to the September 2018 murder of Botham Jean in nearby Dallas.
Hubert Arturo Acevedo is an American police officer who was previously the interim chief of police of the Aurora Police Department, the chief of police of the Austin Police Department, Houston Police Department, and Miami Police Department. Before becoming a police chief, he was a member of the California Highway Patrol.
Llerena Beaufort Friend was an American teacher, historian, and librarian. She studied at the University of Texas, and taught in public schools for about twenty years, after which she had a second career as a librarian. She was the founding director of the Barker Center for Texas History and held that position for nearly two decades. During the same period she taught history courses at the University of Texas. She published a biography on Sam Houston in 1954.
Lieutenant - 1981
Captain - 1984 
Deputy Chief - 1987
Houston Police Chief - 1990–1992 [1]