Since the pandemic in 2020 specifically, we have seen more and more violent crime issues rising in cities across the United States. Maybe it was keeping people inexplicably cooped up for almost a year, maybe it was the craziness that came with the 2020 election. But things have spiraled, and Houston now holds a new, dark crown.
According to new report from Compare the Market AU has named Houston as the top US city for home break-ins. The numbers have the burglary rate per 100,000 people in the city at 736, with a 'worry score' of 59.07. That is four 'worry points' higher than the next highest city, Chicago. Numerous stories in recent months as well in Houston support that, with plenty of break-ins happening across the city.
President of the Houston Police Officer's Union Ray Hunt says this is a problem we created.
"We have so many people out on multiple bonds, for five, six or seven years, these people are not out here working...they are going around burglarizing cars, homes, and robbing people," he says.
Behind Houston as well are San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, and even Los Angeles. We have officially become more criminal than some of the worst crime cities in the country.
New Mayor John Whitmire has vowed to stop the bleeding and has taken steps to rectify it. He has ousted many people from an old, corrupt administration. The officers are obviously doing their job, the District Attorney Kim Ogg has been doing her job in prosecuting these criminals.
But there is a third component holding the city back from fixing the issue. That would be the judges.
"Some of these judges, who are not elected they are magistrate judges, are finding no probable cause, and releasing people simply because their buddy is the persons defense attorney," Hunt says.
You can have the officers and A doing their jobs. But if the judges are acting as a roadblock, there is not much that can be done.
"It does not help when judges let them out...they dismiss these cases, which is ridiculous...especially when the defendant has an ankle monitor on from the previous time they were in court," he says.
He says this is also why more people are getting guns in Houston, and there have been more stories of people defending burglaries with a weapon.