TexasCHLforum.com

Another article:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3540131.html

"[homicide Capt. Dale Brown] did suggest, however, that any sudden increase in population is typically accompanied by a rise in crime." -Dec. 21, 2005

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It would seem that Capt. Brown understands the situation. Of course we didn't hear about this from offical channels for 4 months...

With this info, I think Hurtt is not looking good.

I wouldn't trust this man with my safety.

And more recently:

"...Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said the Federal Emergency Management Agency should fund the initiative because of the strain on the department with the increase of 100,000 to 150,000 new residents from hurricane-ravaged areas."

"White and Hurtt pointed to an increase in the city's homicides — up nearly 25 percent over the last year and 70 percent this month — and an increase in gang activity. The most crime-troubled areas include southwest Houston, particularly in apartment complexes housing evacuees, White and Hurtt said."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 51224.html

One quote for the record:

"I don't foresee, at this time, that there's going to be any significant increase in serious crime," -Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt (Sept. 13, 2005)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/spe ... 51142.html

An earlier article:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3543961.html

It's definitely a damage control article.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3559611.html

"Jan. 2, 2006, 2:50AM

No quick fix for rising homicides
City looking for creative way to combat violence


By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

It wasn't the bloodiest year ever for Houston. But with 23 percent more homicides last year than in 2004, Houston police are boosting patrols near large, crime-ridden apartment complexes and considering other steps to curb the violence.

Unofficially, the city had recorded 336 homicides through Saturday, compared with 273 in 2004. Police spokesmen said the final number could change slightly as investigations continue.

The increase follows several years of a relatively steady homicide rate, ranging from 267 in 2001 to 276 in 2003. These numbers reflected a gradual annual increase since 1997, when homicides dipped to a 10-year low of 227.

Police Chief Harold Hurtt has responded to this year's increase, much of it recorded in the past two months, by investing $4 million in additional overtime pay for officers and deploying many of them near five apartment complexes where violent crime has been rampant.

Such steps are helpful, but a long-term solution will depend on the city's "renewed commitment" to train and hire additional officers, said City Councilman Adrian Garcia, a former police officer who chairs the council's public safety committee.

"The budget's really tight, but we've got to be looking at creative ways to get our manpower back up," Garcia said. "It's been proven time and time again that police presence, in and of itself, is a great deterrent to crime."


Evacuees' role

The latest homicides recorded in Houston were the shootings of two men in the 8900 block of Bissonnet about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said the two victims, Keith Hayes, 19, and Calvin Clay, 23, and a suspect identified only as "Al" were Louisiana residents who relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina.

The suspect fled afterward, police said.

The killing of the two men brought to 10 the number of Houston homicides this year involving [known] Katrina evacuees. Hurtt and other city officials, however, have cautioned that the evacuees' role should not be overemphasized.

"I don't think that would be fair for us to do," Garcia said. "That would be assuming that Houston was crime-free before Katrina occurred."

Other officials say it's reasonable to expect a spike in crime when an urban area experiences a sudden increase in population — more than 100,000 Katrina evacuees have been housed in Houston-area apartments — without a corresponding increase in resources.

This is the reasoning behind Mayor Bill White's request that the Federal Emergency Management Agency provide $6.5 million to pay overtime to officers in targeted areas. The agency said it is considering the request.

Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, said police officers are feeling the strain, with morale low in spite of progress the union has made in boosting their pay and benefits.

Much of this is based on personnel shortages that require officers to respond alone to violent crime scenes, Marticiuc said.

"It's not safe," he said.


Focus on solutions

Garcia and others say it's more useful to focus on solutions than on trying to pinpoint why the number of homicides has gone up. Identifying the reasons for changing crime rates is notoriously difficult, Garcia said.

"There is no perfect science to crime and what causes it," Garcia said.

In addition to hiring more officers, Garcia said city and county officials should increase their monitoring of registered sex offenders, probationers and parolees.

"We need to make sure we are keeping an eye on individuals who have conditional liberty," Garcia said. "We need to focus on these individuals who already have experience with the criminal justice system."

Officials say it's also important for the public to keep the latest numbers in perspective.


Overall crime drops

While violent crime in Houston was up by 2.3 percent since November from the same period in 2004, the overall crime rate dropped by 2.2 percent.

And the 2005 homicide total was less than half the record number of 701 in 1981. Garcia said he vividly remembers the conditions he saw as a police officer in the 1980s, when a recession deprived the city of revenue to hire more officers and violent crime soared.

Then, as now, a combination of greater police presence and strategic deployment can turn things around, Garcia said.

Chief Hurtt, he said, "is doing very well, given the conditions we're all existing under and the challenges that he's inherited."

mike.snyder@chron.com "

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It would seem that Katrina did indeed have a measureable affect on Houston's crime rate.

Wasn't the Houston Chronicle saying a while back that there was no increae in crime?