musicman Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Houston's homicide rate surpassed Dallas' in 2006 for the first time in more than a decade and is now the second-highest among the nation's largest cities, according to figures released Monday by the FBI.Houstonians were killed at a rate of 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, a number that had gone unmatched since 1995 when the FBI began posting crime statistics online. Dallas' homicide rate was higher than Houston's in all of the previous 11 years.The two cities' homicide rates were almost identical last year. But Houston's rate increased nearly 12 percent as Dallas' rate declined more than 8 percent. Houston has seen an uptick in homicides since more than 100,000 Louisiana residents fled to the city after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.Only Philadelphia now has a higher homicide rate than Houston on the list of the nation's 10 largest cities. San Antonio ranks seventh on the list, while Dallas is fifth.full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Though has officially stirred up a bee's nest! Pandora's box is now opened, etc. etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 According to HPD statistics, the rate is down over the first five months of 2007 compared to last year. Apparently, there is some significant behind the influx of 150,000 or so people in the span of three or four days in 2005 plus the continued influx of immigrants from other countries at a rate of hundreds and even thousands per month. In the case of the former, a small but troublesome number of people were involved in drug wars that continued on in Houston after the storm hit while in with the latter, there is evidence of the same, only with international gang connections.Regardless, it's an ongoing problem, and even with a modicum of success, the overtime program has to be replaced by a significant increase in full-time officers. 4,900 uniformed officers are just not enough for a city of ~ 2.2 million people.Granted, the city is also patroled in sections by Harris County Sheriff's deputies and by the Constable but those two entities still don't patrol the city in the way that HPD officers would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Though has officially stirred up a bee's nest! Pandora's box is now opened, etc. etc. etc. yeah it would have been interesting to see the Mayor's face as he opened this morning's paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 The Mayor is a bit out of touch when it comes to real crime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vertigo58 Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 yeah it would have been interesting to see the Mayor's face as he opened this morning's paper. Yep, There were at least 2 seperate TV news stations that painted a totally different picture on last weeks news. Everything was rosey. Crime down, etc. A real contradiction to this news. It's a game of "To Tell The Truth". Would the real mayor please stand up? and greatHizzy got it perfect up above! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 yeah it would have been interesting to see the Mayor's face as he opened this morning's paper.I doubt his faced moved much, since we have known these numbers since January. The homicide rate is a bit skewed for Houston, since they count all of our murders, but use old population figures. The City Planning Department estimates Houston's population at 2,231,335 as of January 2007. However, the more accurate homicide rate of 16.5 is STILL too high, and still higher than most of the big cities. While the murder rate for 2007 is slightly lower than 2006, and the police force is now gaining more officers than it is losing, it will be a few more years before the spike in murders subsides.I noticed in the Chronicle graphic that 8 out of 10 big cities saw an increase in murders last year. While we can point to a certain segment of the population for a substantial portion of our increase, I wonder what reasons the other 7 cities have for theirs.Kudos to Dallas for finally getting some crime numbers to brag about.EDIT: Hizzy, what sections of Houston are patrolled by non-HPD officers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Granted, the city is also patroled in sections by Harris County Sheriff's deputies and by the Constable but those two entities still don't patrol the city in the way that HPD officers would.Neither of those two entities have jurisdiction over HPD, inside the city limits, that I know of. At most, HCSO coexists with HPD because Houston sits inside Harris County which would cause some overlapping in outlying areas. Other than that, the only time you'll see Constables is when they're running speed traps in their precinct, or when they're on contract with a certain subdivision. HPD still patrols those areas though - if anything, just not as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Other than that, the only time you'll see Constables is when they're running speed traps in their precinct, or when they're on contract with a certain subdivision. HPD still patrols those areas though - if anything, just not as much.Not true. Constables patrol just like HPD, no contract needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Not true. Constables patrol just like HPD, no contract needed.I'm pretty sure that they don't do criminal patrol. Who's going to dispatch them? 911 sends HPD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I'm pretty sure that they don't do criminal patrol.They do patrol in the East End and especially around Gulfgate as part of a contract with the Greater East End Management District. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 I doubt his faced moved much, since we have known these numbers since January. The homicide rate is a bit skewed for Houston, since they count all of our murders, but use old population figures. The City Planning Department estimates Houston's population at 2,231,335 as of January 2007. However, the more accurate homicide rate of 16.5 is STILL too high, and still higher than most of the big cities. While the murder rate for 2007 is slightly lower than 2006, and the police force is now gaining more officers than it is losing, it will be a few more years before the spike in murders subsides.from info in the chron, it looks like the general trend since 2002 has been increasing which isn't good news for the White admin. as for which population figures are used, i had to make the assumption that the numbers presented are accurate. Yes they are just numbers but the image isn't flattering for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 They do patrol in the East End and especially around Gulfgate as part of a contract with the Greater East End Management District.The key word there is contract. Even in the areas that they are contracted in, they are not dispatched to 911 calls. They do have the ability to monitor HPD and jump on calls in their area of contract/precinct however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 The key word there is contract. Even in the areas that they are contracted in, they are not dispatched to 911 calls. They do have the ability to monitor HPD and jump on calls in their area of contract/precinct however.and you can call them directly, at least in my precinct. they patrol more instead of sitting under the freeway u-turn areas giving tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 I heard the same reports and crime is up all across the nation. I wouldn't even get into the Dallas vs. Houston argument on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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