Posted on 08/14/2006 12:03:17 PM PDT by My2Cents
Katrina victims blamed for Houston crime
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer
A letter to inmate No. 1352951 and a cell phone bill for $76.63, both found in a soggy New Orleans duplex ruined by Hurricane Katrina, led Louisiana bounty hunter James Martin to Texas.
Again.
It marked the seventh time since Katrina that Martin, whose pursuit of bail jumpers often begins with clues salvaged from abandoned New Orleans homes, has followed a trail to Texas.
"I don't think Texas really knows what they got," Martin said.
Katrina sent a lot of bad guys to Texas, as Houston is finding out.
Houston took in 150,000 evacuees — the most of any U.S. city — after Katrina struck on Aug. 29. Houston police believe the evacuees are partly responsible for a nearly 17.5 percent increase in homicides so far this year over the same period in 2005.
About 21 percent of Houston's 232 homicides through July 25 involved an evacuee as either a suspect or a victim, according to police, who attribute much of the bloodshed to fighting among rival New Orleans gang members.
"New Orleans allowed a lot of these guys to stay on the street for whatever reason or be picked up and released after 60 days," said Capt. Dale Brown, who oversees Houston's homicide division. "Texas law, I don't want to say it's tougher, but we take these offenses very seriously."
Judge Robert Eckels, chief executive of Harris County, which includes Houston, said Katrina evacuees arrested in the Houston have cost the county's criminal justice system more than $18 million. In June, Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent $19.5 million to Houston to help pay for additional officers and overtime to police the city after Katrina.
The police and the Harris County sheriff's department said they have no figures on how many Katrina evacuees have been arrested. Houston police said misdemeanor and felony arrests overall actually dropped last fall from the same period a year earlier. But the sheriff's department reported a 41 percent increase in felony arrests in November from the year before.
"I think some saw (Katrina) as an opportunity," Martin's bounty-hunting partner, Michael Wright, said of evacuees who fled New Orleans with criminal records. "No one knows who they are over here."
Katrina evacuees received fair warning when they arrived in Houston. Days after the storm, Mayor Bill White went on television, flanked by Houston police, and welcomed Katrina's bedraggled survivors with a stern warning that a jail cell was waiting for anyone who crossed the line.
Evacuee Vincent Wilson, a leader of the Katrina Survivors Association, was impressed. He said that in New Orleans before Katrina, "everyone knows that if the jail's crowded you get a slap on the hand and get released."
Eckels predicted the county's worst guests will go home once their federal assistance dries up. And if many choose to stick around, the county will be ready: "We don't put up with it here. If you break the law, you're going to be prosecuted."
I've seen bullfights, rodeos, concerts and tennis matches along with baseball and football games in the Dome.
(You see, while a student at Strake Jesuit, I was a popcorn vendor for Harry Martin Catering in the Sixties.)
Kinda like cats, stray cat has kittens in your barn, they're yours.
Unless ya drown 'em.
Here's a "good samaritan" head noogie for ya. Bet you won't make THAT mistake next time a hurricane wipes out New Awlins, will ya?
I'm near West and I45. In two house, not more than 5 houses away from me, we've had crack dealing. (They got arrested for that.) We've also had an increase in robbery and burglery.
And I live in a nice neighborhood.
You DO live in a nice neighborhood. Our definition of "nice" is being defined down pretty rapidly, eh?
This gives a whole new perspective to the phrase "Blame the Victim", in this case it's 'Blame the katrina Victim'
"My west-side neighborhood, which was formerly perfectly nice (and I have high suburban standards), is now a total ghetto"
Xenalyte,
Where do you live? Memorial area here. I agree it has gotten much worse.
That party wouldn't start with an "R" would it?
I know, Dallas is smaller, but worse.
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You DO live in a nice neighborhood. Our definition of "nice" is being defined down pretty rapidly, eh?
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I wonder if we could take legal action against the Mayor for putting our lives in danger and degrading our property values?
Either that or quit paying city taxes and tell them we needed the money for guns.
The new townhomes near downtown are in an expensive neighborhood but the old crackhouses and crack dealers are still there too.
I want to know what the exit strategy is.
Is there no work in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, etc?
They voted in the New Orleans election this year. Since they've already been in Houston for 1 year, I hope they don't try voting in Houston's mayoral race in 2007. The guy who got them hand outs isn't going to be running (term limits).
At what point do people move on? There are still a lot of Louisiana plates in this town. When will our state see some licensing fees? Will they all just be moving back below sea level?
Why not move to Arkansas? Florida? Utah? Montana? etc? Why stay in Houston "for the duration"? Duration of what? Rebuilding New Orleans? We are talking a long time. And that is too far of a commute to be a part of the rebuilding effort.
Downtown was the place to be for about 4 months. Now it's back to its old self (don't be caught dead there after dark--except for at the ballpark).
And the midtown area is, well, too midtown-y. The bars there are comically lame and too loud, while the parking situation is a joke. It's the hot area for now and they're trying to gentrify it, but who knows whether it will take.
As a conservative I DO blame Bush, federal and state governments. They continue to house and feed them when most are capable of working, just too lazy. And, the govt. allows them to wallow in their old ways just to take pressure off of their political agendas. We gave....and gave....and gave...and gave to the detriment of both victim and taxpayers who have to support this hog wash.
Yep, and New Orleans got an infusion of Hispanic drug gang types, which it never had before.
Looks like a lose/lose.
Pulled a dead guy (16yrs old) out of a park behind my house on Thursday. Shot in the head. My security guard found him at 6am. Damn evaccuees!!!!!!!!!!
Oh wait he was a MS13 illegal.
Sigh
At least they are not illegals.
The police department loves Brown. He gave them the biggest pay raise ever! Now we have officers retiring with million dollar accounts. No kidding.
But it is beyond Katrina.
There was a high profile gang fight in a city park earlier this year. It was high profile because it was a daytime stabbing (and it involved multiple gangs, including a dead MS13 member, and a white girl who gave him his lethal stab).
The rise in violent carjackings have predated Katrina and continue to today.
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