Crime Is Getting Out Of Control

[KatieDidIt]

30 cars were vandalized in our area last night, two on our own street. Also, it appears a child predator is being very bold. This is also the same area that was covered in the news this summer, that had a man walking into houses where women were home alone. Where are the police you ask..............never seen one car in the year I have lived here. It took them 20 minutes to respond to our neighbors call.

Here is a report from a street close by.

>

>

> Just to let you know, a few weeks ago Greg and I had left to go out to

> dinner with friends, leaving Lauren and Maddie at home. Lauren was to

> have

> her girlfriend who lives on Buckridge walk over to our house. Not more

> then two minutes after we left, a man sitting in a car near our house saw

> Lauren's girlfriend walking and began following her in his car. Her

> friend

> noticed him so she began running up our walk and the man jumped out of his

> car and started chasing her. Lauren opened the door to let her friend in

> and saw the man running right up our sidewalk behind her friend. She let

> her friend in and locked the door immediately. He begain banging on the

> door yelling "let me in." Lauren told him she was calling the police so

> he

> left (not immediately though) and jumped in his car and sped away. The

> police came to our house to get a description of the man, but we later

> followed up with them and they told us they were not able to find him. He

> was NOT a high school boy. He was in his mid to late twenties and looked

> very unkept. Lauren thought he looked like he was on drugs. He was in a

> small grey or dark tan car.

>

> This just proves the point that we cannot feel totally safe anywhere!

>

> Pamela Michael

>> I thought you might like to distribute this to your Woodlands Watch

> list.

>>

>> Last Sunday a friend of mine left our church on W. Panther Creek and

> was

>> sitting at the light at Woodlands Pkwy and W Panther Creek when a man

> came

>> up to the passenger side of her car and tried to open the door.

>> Fortunately

>> her doors were locked, but the man began beating on the window and

>> yelling.

>> This went on for several minutes until the light turned and she was

> able

>> to

>> complete her left turn onto Woodlands Pkwy.

>>

>> This just highlights that we must always be vigilant and keep our car

> and

>> house doors locked.

>>

>> I have instructed my son that ANYTIME he gets into the car, he needs

> to

>> punch the door locks immediately so that it is harder for him to be

> car

>> jacked.

>>

>> So, I just wanted to share this with you and if you could distribute

> it to

>> anyone you know in The Woodlands maybe it will help to keep us all

> safe

[westguy]

Um, does TW have any law enforcement outside of the county sherriffs?

[KatieDidIt]

Um, does TW have any law enforcement outside of the county sherriffs?

NOPE

Um, does TW have any law enforcement outside of the county sherriffs?

NOPE, but they are considering a new taxing district to provide us with some in about 5 years.

[jm1fd]

Wow. Things really must be out of control. Such carnage!!

[Talbot]

You have to give up something unfortunately to live further out in a bigger house. If the Woodlands doesn't have law enforcement then it will take longer for the police to get where you are, especially if there is only a sheriffs office, where the officers may be too busy to answer to calls that aren't really that serious.

Though, I am not saying Child Predators aren't dangerous.

[TJones]

Um, does TW have any law enforcement outside of the county sherriffs?

Katie, who are the Oak Ridge North Police Dept. ?

You have to give up something unfortunately to live further out in a bigger house. If the Woodlands doesn't have law enforcement then it will take longer for the police to get where you are, especially if there is only a sheriffs office, where the officers may be too busy to answer to calls that aren't really that serious.

Though, I am not saying Child Predators aren't dangerous.

Of course you could always take matters into your own hands and shoot the pervert yourself !

[KatieDidIt]

Katie, who are the Oak Ridge North Police Dept. ?

Of course you could always take matters into your own hands and shoot the pervert yourself !

Oak Ridge is a township up front by I-45. The Woodlands is a Corporately OWNED, unincorporated place. In other words, its the Wild Wild West......Most associations have a patrol, this place doesn't because its grown to almost 80,000 residents. The corporation would loose money if they paid for our protection. SO they leave it to the understaffed Montgomery County Sheriffs office. Off course the Development Company does pay for extra patrol up by the waterway, because that area makes them money.

The sooner Houston annexs this place the better in my opinion. We would get the Houston Police and City water, therefore the loss of mud taxes and the gain of police presence and response time.

The old "idea" of the Woodlands no longer exists. We need the same protection as the city now, as the city has grown up to here.

[RedScare]

Actually, The Woodlands does pay Montgomery County for extra deputies that patrol only the Woodlands. The Woodlands has 47 deputies assigned to patrol within its borders. DPS and Pct. 3 Constable also assign officers to patrol The Woodlands.

The part of The Woodlands that falls inside Shenandoah city limits is patrolled by their officers, as well.

[editor]

That's why people live in cities -- better police protection, better fire protection, better water and sewer services, more reliable telephone and cable connections, etc...

I have in-laws who live in the woods near the Canadian border. They're... shall we say... "off the grid." They realize that the price they pay for their tranquility is the fact that if they have a fire, the house is going to burn to the ground, and if a burglar (more likely a nosey bear) decides to break in, they're on their own.

But this happens everywhere -- people move out of the city and then complain that they don't have city services. Then they get them, and it's too much like the city, so they move farther out. The cycle repeats and we end up with urban sprawl.

I know a guy who lives on the "other side" of 1960. His neighbor has a great big floodlight that shines on his house. If the light keeps him awake, my friend shoots it out. "What's he gonna do?" he rationalizes, "I'm in the County."

[Jeebus]

I'm surprised that The Woodlands has a paid fire department, but not a paid police department.

[RedScare]

Only incorporated towns and cities can have their own police department. You think homeowners associations are bad now? Wait till we let them form their own private militias!

[pineda]

"When I die, I want to die like my Grandfather- who died peacefully in his sleep. Not SCREAMING like all the passengers in his car."

I just laughed out loud when I read this, thank goodness I wasn't drinking something at the time...

[bachanon]

i'm quite positive i read the entire thread and i don't understand how that relates to the thread. did i miss something?

[YakuzaIce]

It is tjones signature, but yeah it has nothing to do with the thread.

[pineda]

weekly police blotter from woodlands online

police report in the chronicle's woodlands blog

from the montgomery county crimestoppers website

'tis the season...

[Montrose1100]

The only excuse for Police in the Woodlands (around the Town Center, Market Street, Mall, etc) is the Mall Security. They have a few cars, Horses, and bikers.

[RedScare]

weekly police blotter from woodlands online

police report in the chronicle's woodlands blog

from the montgomery county crimestoppers website

'tis the season...

You know, for a subdivision almost the size of San Francisco (42.2 sq miles to 47 sq miles), that police blotter sure was weak. For a city of 75,000, I would expect to see some serious crime, not a bunch of shoplifting and drug possessions, with a couple of assaults thrown in.

To call The Woodlands "out of control" seems to me to be a bit....hyperbole?

[KatieDidIt]

You know, for a subdivision almost the size of San Francisco (42.2 sq miles to 47 sq miles), that police blotter sure was weak. For a city of 75,000, I would expect to see some serious crime, not a bunch of shoplifting and drug possessions, with a couple of assaults thrown in.

To call The Woodlands "out of control" seems to me to be a bit....hyperbole?

Red, there was more going on Friday night and last night that hasn't hit the blotters. The point is there are NO police cars anywhere, to be found...EVER, in the back of the Woodlands. There is drag racing on the new streets at all hours of the day, with gun shots. And yes, to have all these things going on without one cop car at least staking out the area is out of control to me. If there wer police around, I wouldn't say it was out of control, I'd say we have become the city. And because of the Walmarts and strip malls they are building back here, the lack of coverage is only going to make it worse.

You have to understand, I lived in a neighborhood of 1500 homes for 15 years, with three 24/7 off duty cops patrolling all the times. The response time was 3-5 minutes for any emergency or non-emergency. Up here, the lady across the street had an attempted break-in at 3am this summer, with the alarm going full blast. The cops came 20 minutes later. They aren't in the area, so how can they respond quickly? That's the scary thing.

There is a problem, and its mostly with the company that owns the Woodlands. They care more about the money making and the "image" of the place, vs. the actual saftey of its residents. IF there was a mayor and some true politics going on up here, I think things would straighten out quickly. Also, the population in the part of MOntgomery County has grown faster than the utilites and services can keep up with it. There is a big lag between demand and supply. i.e. We haven't had great water pressure for a year, they are just now starting to build a well or They build the Walmart before widening the country lanes.

As a neighborhood we have decided to hire our own private patrol. But we were told that we may be fined by the association for doing that..........Fined for protecting ourselves is a hoot don't ya think?

[RedScare]

I stand corrected. Crime up there IS out of control.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/3391019.html

"A Republican congressman from southeast Texas has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in South Dakota. A state trooper pulled over U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, 50, Friday night for a problem with the taillights of his vehicle, Clay County Sheriff Andy Howe said.

Brady, of the Houston suburb of The Woodlands, is a graduate of the University of South Dakota."

[Jeebus]

So cut the fire department, make them all volunteers (like most small towns) and hire some police. Or leave the fire dept in place, and just hire police.

Either way Woodlands: hire some police.

[westguy]

A volunteer fire department would never work there. TW is made up of residents who buy and then plan to sell their homes in five years so they can move further out to Huntsville.

[bachanon]

a large percentage of home sales in the woodlands are woodlands' residents moving up our downsizing, according to my realtor at gary greene prudential. oh, that was sarcasm from westguy. sorry.

[KatieDidIt]

Two attempted break-inf one street over from us at 5:30 am. Police response time was 12 minutes on a 911 call. They did catch the guy coming in on foot along the run-off easement. I wish the MUD district would lt us fence those things off like Houston does.

[pineda]

let's hope that the rise in crime is not related to this news...

[KatieDidIt]

let's hope that the rise in crime is not related to this news...

AHHH The Katrina backlash continues. I don't know if that has to do with break-ins though.

On that same note, my friends in the Galleria area are loathing the NOLA people. Apparently all the private schools loaded the private school NOLA kids into their classes. These were school that were hard enough to get into, now several are closing admissions until 2007 due to the fact many families are staying. I will have to say upon my last visit there,last Monday, traffic was INSANE in the neighborhoods. I 've never seen it like that before.

[ConstructionManagerMAS]

The county also has a constable for each precinct, along with deputy constables. I've always been a little confused by the jurisdictional boundaries between the sheriff's office and the constable's office. I would sure think there would be a sizeable number of peace officers patrolling The Woodlands. There is a deputy constable who frequents our subdivision (just outside The Woodlands). My one experience with calling the sheriff's office (for a fairly serious incident) was less than satisfying. I was hoping that there would be a change with the new sheriff. Maybe time to put some political heat on the whole bunch.

[VicMan]

AHHH The Katrina backlash continues. I don't know if that has to do with break-ins though.

On that same note, my friends in the Galleria area are loathing the NOLA people. Apparently all the private schools loaded the private school NOLA kids into their classes. These were school that were hard enough to get into, now several are closing admissions until 2007 due to the fact many families are staying. I will have to say upon my last visit there,last Monday, traffic was INSANE in the neighborhoods. I 've never seen it like that before.

My school had the opposite reaction; kids and staff at my school welcomed the NOLA kids with open arms, yet about all of them left or transferred elsewhere. The principal at my school said some of them were having trouble with coursework.

But as for the Woodlands, I agree that the Woodlands needs to have a stronger police force.

[hbcu]

well....lets pack up the goods and keep on moving then....I hear the land is cheap in Centerville....weird....at one time, people left the small town for opportunities and now they run back.