Here’s the Chron story on that crime prevention townhall meeting in the Heights that I mentioned the other day.
In response to several recent home invasions and a rash of burglaries in and around Houston Heights, city officials have given the Houston Police Department more money for additional patrols and overtime, Chief Harold Hurtt told a neighborhood meeting Monday night.
“We really do understand your concern, and we are doing everything within our resources to make Houston a safer community,” Hurtt told an overflow crowd in a small meeting room at the Houston Heights public library branch.
Crime in January was down 19 percent in the largely affluent area compared to the same period in 2008, just as crime last year was down compared to 2007, Hurtt said at a town hall meeting sponsored by U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, who ran the event.
But a significant increase in home burglaries and robberies in January and the publicized home invasions, rare for this part of the city, have increased public concern.
“We’ve had four home invasions since the first of the year — that gets everybody’s attention,” said Capt. Mark Holloway of HPD’s central patrol division, which includes Houston Heights, Woodland Heights and adjacent neighborhoods.
“Robberies are crimes that instill fear in everyone,” he said. “I spoke with the robbery captain today, and he’s utilizing every resource at his disposal to apprehend those responsible.”
Good to hear. It is the home invasions – one in particular that involved an armed robber accosting a man and his child, and firing a couple of shots at them as they made an escape – that has stirred up the most anxiety, going by the neighborhood message boards. There’s been talk about funding constable patrols and other things like that. You can be sure that all the District H candidates will get a thorough vetting on these points as well.