Photo: Moment RF
Violent crime is slowly falling in Houston, but police department data shows that burglary of homes and cars continues to be a significant problem. So, why are crimes like burglary continuing while violent crime rates fall?
Douglas Griffith, President of the Houston Police Officers' Union, says that once again, it comes down to judges being soft on crime. He told KTRH, "The courts are not holding people accountable for these actions. You can have a guy that's been arrested 10 times for breaking into motor vehicles, but he's only going to get a hundred dollar bond."
On top of that, the Houston Police Department still doesn't have the necessary manpower to police the entire 639 square mile City of Houston. Griffith said, "It's just one of those things that takes time. We're going to continue to work through it, and I believe that violent crime will continue to slowly decrease as we get more manpower."
In the meantime, though, that lack of manpower is causing other problems, including long police response times, which, according to the Houston Chronicle, are at their longest since the '90s. Griffith mentioned that department policy and notoriously bad Houston city traffic are both contributing factors as well.