Crime In The Heights

[cwrm4]

This past Sunday around 3 pm - a C-47 with invasion stripes flew over.....very cool.

I saw it as well! What was strange was that the prior weekend a DC-3 converted to turboprops had flown over.

[Tiko]

Saturday night right after 9 pm, the Space Station did a pass from SW to NE - beautiful.

[samiamj]

I know Shady Acres and the Houston Heights have been pursuing this avenue to stem the crime. I guess we have to find another avenue. I know Shady Acres is seeking candidates for our Citizens on Patrol (COP) Program

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Homeowners in Harris County are no longer allowed to hire extra deputies to patrol their neighborhoods.

County commissioners voted yesterday to no longer honor deputy contracts, at least until they completely review the program. Email obtained by 13 Undercover revealed the sheriff's office was cutting into taxpayer patrols, so it could sign new contracts. That essentially benefited only neighborhoods who could afford the service.

Commissioner Sylvia Garcia says deputies should instead provide quality service to the entire county.

"Because what you do then is create the have and the have nots. People who have money can pay for contract deputy service. People who can't afford it don't get the deputies," she said. "It's absolutely, patently unfair."

[samiamj]

I thought this was a joke but it is legitimate. Talk about milking citizens for trivial registration.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/kho...0f042c.html?npc

HOUSTON -- The year was 1968 when riots broke out at the Democratic National Convention, the first heart transplant in the U.S. was performed and the Houston City Council ordered bike owners to register with the police.

Few people know that registering their bike is the law.

“No. I had no idea,” said bike rider Layton Duer.

There's a reason why Duer didn't know he was supposed to get a permit for his bike. In the 40 years since the city made it mandatory, almost everyone has forgotten.

“There must be a million and a half bicycles out there and we've only permitted 120 in the past year,” said Alfred Moran with the City of Houston's administration office.

That's just 10 people per month who still pay the 1 fee to register. Fire stations are supposed to keep the forms, but many have long since run out.

You can't even find the registration form online through the city's Web site.

more here

[HtownWxBoy]

Oh good lord are you serious... well you can put my boyfriend and I on that list. Oh well.

[musicman]

i remember registering one bike in the early 70's.

[RedScare]

While I am a 2-time scofflaw myself, there IS a good reason for the registering system. If stolen, the police can readily identify the owner. However, an unused system benefits no one, so this registration may as well go the way 8 tracks.

[memebag]

i remember registering one bike in the early 70's.

I registered all of my bikes when I was a kid. I always wondered why folks stopped doing that. Now I know they just forgot about it.

[GREASER]

I think it was a Cub Scout project for us...we all learned to hold on tight to your money when dealing with "the man"

[Mr. Chenevert]

This sounds worse than the pet license... which can only be done within 30 days of the rabies vaccine renewal. I dont think the city realizes that the vaccine is now a 3 year shot... so you try and renew the license and they reject it since you dont have the vaccine form...

[MidtownCoog]

I remember going to the firs station with my parents to register their bikes. 1972ish.

[Howard]

While I am a 2-time scofflaw myself, there IS a good reason for the registering system. If stolen, the police can readily identify the owner. However, an unused system benefits no one, so this registration may as well go the way 8 tracks.

Yea getting a stolen bicycle back. How about getting my car first. Or the person that hit and ran me. Or the woman who worked for me and was stealing money. Or took my truck out of storage and drove it for 3 months. How about my $154.00 ticket for lane change without signal on my motorcycle. Forget all those REALLY important list of things cops do nothing about or give you a ticket or jail for. I could go on all day.

But I bet they are out looking for my bicycle.

[bubbles]

Well we've only lived in Woodland Heights for 6 mths and Last Friday they got us. They entered the backyard and then our divided garage and kicked in the wall from the extra room to the garage and proceeded to take, tools, lawn equipment, mower, bicycle.

[TexasVines]

sorry that happened

most of those types of items will not wind up in a pawnshop because they have little value to pawnshops and more value being sold to or used by the end user/buyer.....they will probably be out doing work tomorrow

if you lived in the house for only 6 months it sounds to me like someone knew the layout of your garage I would ask the police to talk with the former owners and or tenants

[RedScare]

sorry that happened

most of those types of items will not wind up in a pawnshop because they have little value to pawnshops and more value being sold to or used by the end user/buyer.....they will probably be out doing work tomorrow

if you lived in the house for only 6 months it sounds to me like someone knew the layout of your garage I would ask the police to talk with the former owners and or tenants

I'm fairly confident that you made this factoid up. If I am incorrect, I'd love to see the source, since it conflicts with what I know about residential burglaries.

[TexasVines]

I'm fairly confident that you made this factoid up. If I am incorrect, I'd love to see the source, since it conflicts with what I know about residential burglaries.

what part of it are you claiming that I made up.....that the items stolen are not of much value to a pawn shop and are probably being used by the people that stole them or people they sold directly to

or the fact that most houses are broken into "on the quick" which often does not involve kicking through walls to get to other areas because that takes a lot of time....there is no guarantee that they will get through the wall....and it makes a lot of noise and many home burglars are not prepared to kick through a wall even if it is just sheetrock

I feel that most home burglars would just assume move on to another house than take the time to kick through walls unless they knew something about the home and the wall in question....and having only lived there 6 months tells me that someone could easily have knowledge of the house

are you really trying to tell me that homes don't get broken into by people that have knowledge of them which is why it has been known for people with safes, hidden rooms, and other built in home security measures to be robbed by people that know they have these things and know where they are and specifically tell the person being robbed to go right to those features that most homes don't have

nearly every person that I know that has had their home broken into including mine in college (two times in three days and the second time my room mate shot the person as he was running away) and my parents house they were selling in San Antonio when they moved to Atlanta had someone that had watched the house and or had knowledge of how the house was laid out....in my case it was clear the person knew our schedule because he came back the second time and saw my car gone and my roommates bike gone and assumed we were both at class when really I was at class and my roommate was sleeping in and had his bike inside

in my parents case they knew the house was mostly empty and they also knew immediately that the alarm horn was in the AC intake vent and where to go and tear it out first thing so it only went off a few seconds

someone I knew in Houston was broken into and the cops went across the street into the wooded area and there was fast food trash there from 3-4 days where they had sat and watched the houses in the area

http://books.google.com/books?id=0DrAXjrrk...6&ct=result

this page from a book on home breakins backs up that people watch homes and use all types of inside knowledge.....the OP in this thread living in that house for only a short period of time and the fact that who ever did it broke through one wall to get to another area tells me the person that broke in was very bold and willing to take more risk than most and or they had knowledge of that particular house....the OP in this thread feels their schedule was known and I feel is is hardly any stretch of the imagination given the kicking in of the wall to say the person perhaps knew the layout before hand....because it is a fact that home burglars have hit homes in the past with prior knowledge of the home and its layout and I feel that most opportunist burglars would not have taken the time and effort to break through a wall unless they knew it would not be hard

also I have known people in the pawn and loan business and anyone that knows anything about those businesses knows a lot of their business is based on turnover so buying used lawn equipment out of season is not something they are looking to do which greatly decreases their pawn value and most pawn shops have moved away from bikes and lawn tools and equipment because it has very little value used when new can be had for so cheap and they prefer guns, electronics, jewelry, and hand and power tools because they hold value much better and are not seasonal and it is much easier to know the overall condition of them

http://www.firemansfund.com/dcmsSites/pers...html/four4.html

"Inside jobs are pretty frequent when it comes to claims related to theft," says Theresa Lawless, Director of Fine Art and Collectibles for Fireman's Fund

Edited November 20, 2008 by TexasVines

[RedScare]

Just as I thought.

[TexasVines]

Just as I thought.

please share with us your vast knowledge of how home burglars work

http://www.homeenvy.com/db/1/851.html

another article backing up that people have inside knowledge

if the people knew the schedule as the OP suggested why did they not break into the actual home and steal items with more value that are easier to pawn and easier to carry

mowers, bikes, lawn equipment and tols are a lot to carry for "just random home burglar" to carry off or even to get away with in a car.... it is a known fact to all but a few web fools that most burglars prefer things they can carry away which is not bikes, mowers lawn equipment ect.

please share with us your vast knowledge......or is it "just as I thought"

[tanith27]

There seems to be a rash of burglaries over the past week or so in this general area. The WH bulletin board has commented on a couple as well. They all seem to be in that general area...I've always suspected much of the crime in our area comes from the other side of 45, but can't back that up with anything but a hunch. Either they're coming across 45, doing a hit and grab, then running back across, or maybe just the proximity to 45 can get them on the Interstate in a couple of minutes and be long gone by the time any police cruiser shows up.

[kylejack]

A cop was shot right in front my house (by Meridian) on the East End two weeks ago. Scary stuff.

[chiefbmg]

Yesterday there was a suv surrounded by 4 cop cars, along with police dogs. Anyone know what that was all about? It was on 10th between Lawrence and Alexander. The cops were there for a couple of hours....looked like they were looking throughout the car.

[Tricky Matt]

Was it associated with the apartments on that block? Or did it appear to have resulted from a traffic stop?

I used to live on the corner of 10th and Lawrence (it seems like a lifetime ago). Not a good place to be then or now, despite all the construction of $500k+ boxes over there. Drug dealers in the back yard, used needles behind the garage, fights, gunshots, my house got robbed, my neighbor pulled a gun on some dudes who were robbing his truck and they called the police on him and got HIM arrested. That part of town sucks big time.

[TexasVines]

Was it associated with the apartments on that block? Or did it appear to have resulted from a traffic stop?

I used to live on the corner of 10th and Lawrence (it seems like a lifetime ago). Not a good place to be then or now, despite all the construction of $500k+ boxes over there. Drug dealers in the back yard, used needles behind the garage, fights, gunshots, my house got robbed, my neighbor pulled a gun on some dudes who were robbing his truck and they called the police on him and got HIM arrested. That part of town sucks big time.

how exactly does that work?

[RedScare]

Yesterday there was a suv surrounded by 4 cop cars, along with police dogs. Anyone know what that was all about? It was on 10th between Lawrence and Alexander. The cops were there for a couple of hours....looked like they were looking throughout the car.

Probably a traffic stop that escalated into a vehicle search for contraband. The dogs may have been called to sniff the vehicle. It is also possible that the occupants were followed by the police until they committed a traffic offense, giving the police a reason to stop them. Various things can happen after that to give the police the opportunity to search. Depending on why they were stopped, and how things unfolded, it can drag on for awhile. This happens all over town. Frankly, I wouldn't be concerned. Actually, since I live down the street, I'm not concerned.

[chiefbmg]

My fiance and I have lived in the Heights for about 4.5 years, but just recently bought in this section of the Heights. In my opinion, this part of the heights is slowly but surely coming along. I think in the 7 months since we've moved into this house the neighborhood has gotten better. You see slight changes for the better and less "trash" shall I say than we did when we first moved in. I keep saying in the next year or two, this whole end of the Heights is going to be great. I also have no problems calling the cops if some crackhead who is high off his azz is walking down the street yelling profanity, and being obnoxious. I really believe its just a matter of time before all of the drug dealing and non-sense is gone from this part of Houston, and good citizens basically "take over",for lack of a better expression.I'll be damned if I just bought a house only to be victimized by some crackhead!! The incident I am talking about seemed to be something the police have been monitoring for some time. It was by the apartments on 10th, but seemed to have nothing to do with the apartments, but I could be wrong. I have seen cops before with a guys car pulled over on the apts property, with bottles laid out on the hood. So to me I think the police know that complex seems to have some activity. Again, I just think its a matter of time before they're gone.

[musicman]

Yesterday there was a suv surrounded by 4 cop cars, along with police dogs. Anyone know what that was all about? It was on 10th between Lawrence and Alexander. The cops were there for a couple of hours....looked like they were looking throughout the car.

sounds like an HISD issue

[Tricky Matt]

It was by the apartments on 10th, but seemed to have nothing to do with the apartments, but I could be wrong. So to me I think the police know that complex seems to have some activity. Again, I just think its a matter of time before they're gone.

Mostly families in that complex and when I lived right next door to them they were all really friendly. Some guys would drink beer outside most night but they were quiet and after I got ot know them they would always say hello.

I don't mean to be too hard on that part of town. Just my experience there was not pleasant at all.

[segovia]

I agree with the previous post regarding the recent gentrification in the discussed area. In the last 4 years, companies like "Bastian" and "Tricon" have been building new homes in this area. All of these changes have improved the area for the better. I have yet to see a slowdown even in this economy. If you follow the streets (Alexander & Dorothy) going north towards downtown Heights, you will see the building frenzy. Unfortunately, this new development has also done away with some nice, older homes worthy of renovation.

[dcdude]

I agree with the previous post regarding the recent gentrification in the discussed area. In the last 4 years, companies like "Bastian" and "Tricon" have been building new homes in this area. All of these changes have improved the area for the better. I have yet to see a slowdown even in this economy. If you follow the streets (Alexander & Dorothy) going north towards downtown Heights, you will see the building frenzy. Unfortunately, this new development has also done away with some nice, older homes worthy of renovation.

The 900 block of Nicholson has been completely rebuilt by Pyramid builders and Sullivan builders. This block had only crack houses and run down buildings just 5 years ago......HUGE improvement.

The area will be unrecognizable in a few years.

[heights_yankee]

i have a friend on the 900 block of herkimer. The only old houses left are shanties/crack houses. Hopefully they will be gone soon. However, so many of the new homes are just ugly, imo. all garage out in front.