Chief Hurtt press conference: no mention of illegal immigrant shootout?
Chief Hurtt held a press conference this morning and according to KTRK-13's report, the chief is optimistic that Houston's crime problem has peaked:
The police chief says he's been able to achieve some success, including arresting over 1,800 people on various charges, including misdemeanors and felonies over the last couple of months. Hurtt also talked about the ongoing effort to address hotspots, specifically in apartment complexes, which has resulted in an increased number of charges being filed in the district attorney's office.
Crime in itself is still up a little bit according the chief. So far this year, the Houston area has had 72 murders. That's seven murders ahead of this time last year. Still, Chief Hurtt says a lot of the incentives and plans he has put in place are slowly but surely taking an affect.
"We're able to put equipments and another 200 officers on the street from the overtime program, the one that we started in December and the one in January, for a total of about $10 million," said Chief Hurtt. "As well, we started, remember we already got 70 officers out of the jail. So we've got more people working night. We are focusing on specific areas where there's a higher rate of criminal activity and where we believe the criminals live and congregate."
Chief Hurtt says he's now adding an additional 20 officers to the southwest Houston area. In addition, particularly in all hotspots throughout the city, he's adding officers when he has them available. He expects to ask for additional police cadet classes as well -- as many as seven or eight cadet classes next fiscal year. That begins in July of 2006.
If he mentioned that wild shootout yesterday, between rival illegal immigrant smugglers, it wasn't included in this story. Will the chief now concede that the city's unofficial official sanctuary policy needs to end? Will the city now stop funding day labor sites? Must Houston's neighborhoods become war zones due to illegal immigration, all so we can be tolerant and inclusive?
It's outrageous. And it's (apparently) ignored by Chief Hurtt.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/15/06 08:29 PM | Print |
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