Detective Jeff Miller spends one last Saturday patrolling the streets of Westchase District.
Detective Jeff Miller can point to many signs of his seniority in the Houston Police Department. He’s the last active officer in his academy class. He has more seniority (in years) than the police chief and many of the current HPD leadership. He’s the most senior officer in the robbery division. In fact, last time he checked, he was 45th in seniority among all officers in the Houston Police Department.
“When I was a young officer, I owned an ’86 Z28 Camaro, lived in an apartment near Harwin and Wilcrest and made $19,000 a year. I thought, ‘I can’t believe I get paid to do this,’” Miller said with enthusiasm.
As he gets ready to retire from a 39-year career with HPD, Miller still speaks of his job with the same enthusiasm. “I’m blessed. I’m going out on top,” he said.
Broad experience
Like all HPD officers, Miller started his career as a patrol officer. After that, he spent a year in Special Ops patrolling the east side of downtown. He’s worked as a Field Training Officer and Evaluator and was one of the original members of the Westside Tactical team. He’s also worked as a Westside Burglary and Theft detective and in the Westside Robbery Division. Most recently, he’s worked as an HPD Robbery Detective, assigned to the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) Crime Gun Strike Force as a Task Force Officer. He works out of the ATF office and mostly investigates serial business robberies and car jackings.
Miller first joined the Westchase District Patrol in 2007. He worked many weeknight shifts before moving to Saturday patrols four years ago. He patrols the streets of Westchase District, responding to calls to the dispatch number. “I mostly respond to calls for help with trespassers and vagrants,” said Miller.
“Jeff has been an integral part of the Westchase District Patrol since its early days,” said Mark Hubenak, Westchase District’s vice president of public safety. “He’s been a leader on the Patrol and we’re grateful that he’s spent so many shifts working in Westchase District.”
Detective Jeff Miller was asked to pose with a young admirer at Westchase District’s National Night Out celebration in 2021.
Next up: retirement
Detective Miller’s official retirement is September 29, 2023 – 39 years to the day since he graduated from the police academy. He and wife, Rosie, recently purchased a home in the Tomball area where they’ll be just ten minutes from their granddaughter. Miller looks froward to enjoying the home’s covered patio, big screen TV and soon-to-be-built swimming pool. He and Rosie have started growing their own vegetables. He looks forward to more gardening, cooking and plans to do genealogical research on his family. Mostly he says he looks forward to “going from three cell phones to just one and doing whatever I want.”
