My brother-in-law was in town from Houston this weekend. I told him we have a no-return policy on the evacuee's.
Houston, you have a problem.
HPD is arresting a lot of people with Lousiana credentials (Driver's license's an such) for various crimes from petty theft on up to murder.
from my own personal experience, this year there are more hustlers approaching people in parking lots...and panhandlers, and the like, whether it's all Katrina refugee related not real sure...but it's probably a factor.
NO was a big crime den...and Houston seems to have received its fair share of it.
WHY FEMA...why not the City of New Orleans or the State of Louisiana - or both. NOT FEMA!
The criminals remain in Texas not because of where they came to, rather it's because of where they came from!
12:20 PM CST on Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Associated Press
HOUSTON -- Federal money should fund a $6.5 million task force to target a rise in crime because police face additional demands after an influx of hurricane evacuees, Houston Mayor Bill White said.
Violent crimes have surged in Houston. The city's homicide rate rose nearly 25% since last year and 70% this month. Just two of Houston's 19 patrol districts accounted for the higher homicide rate, both in southwest Houston, White said.
Officials didn't single out one cause for the higher crime rate but pointed to additional gang activity and population growth from Katrina evacuees as contributing factors.
"Crime is unacceptable, especially the murder rate, in some of these hot spots," White said Monday. "We had criminals here before the evacuation and we had some more criminals here after the evacuation."
Even though the city's crime increase isn't solely blamed on Hurricane Katrina evacuees, White said the Federal Emergency Management Agency should fund the taskforce because of the strain those additional 100,000 to 150,000 residents put on the Houston Police Department.
Officers working overtime from January to July would staff the task force. Their work would equal that of adding 150 officers to the force, Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.
They would target the most crime-affected areas, which are in southwest Houston and include apartment complexes housing many Katrina evacuees, officials said.
"Some people who preyed on the vulnerable and broke the rules in Louisiana have gravitated to certain apartment complexes which already had a high concentration of crime," White said. "Now, those areas have a worse problem."
Katrina evacuees have been connected to at least eight of 121 homicides in Houston since refugees began arriving in September, Hurtt said.
Didn't he invite the refugees to come to Houston? If he did, he should foot the bill.
Clue for Bill White: Your problem isn't with money, it is with your judiciary.