New data from the Harris County Sheriff's Office contradicts a report earlier this week that rapes, murders and other violent crime are all down this year.
The District Attorney's Office sent an open letter demanding a retraction from Judge Lina Hidalgo's hand picked administrator.
"They've gone from zero what they refer to as rape, to 75 for the month of September. Also what's interesting is they found 13 cases in August, whereas on Monday they had zero," says David Mitcham, first assistant/chief of courts at the DA's office.
"The county judge immediately puts on the Internet that violent crime in Harris County is down 12 percent. Homicide is down 13 percent. Rape is down 34 percent. Robbery down 11 percent and aggravated assault down 11 percent. And it's based in part on these numbers from the sheriff's department which were simply not accurate or complete."
Mitcham says "this business of violent crime taking a major drop is not supported by the evidence, and not supported by what they see every day at the district attorney's office."
"We've gone from zero murders in September to seven murders in September. And oddly enough, we've gone from seven murders in August to 10 murders in August. And we've gone from nine murders in July to 14 murders in July."
"There has been a crime wave precipitated by this open letter," Mitcham quipped.
Mitcham also points out crime data from the Sheriff's Office is separate from each constable and municipal police departments, including Houston Police.
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