The only crime here: bad reporting

It's easy to tell when we're in a sweeps period in TV news — all those sensational crime stories, all those pointless investigative stories. And now KTRK has adroitly combined the two with a story about purse snatchers targeting Sunday shoppers at three area Wal-Marts.

Investigators analyzed reports of 17 purse snatchings at Wal-Marts on the North Freeway, the East Freeway and the East Belt, 85 percent of which took place Sundays between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The data let police pinpoint the time and date (sort of) of the next crime — they figured it would be between 10:37 a.m. and 2:21 p.m. within a seven-day window at one of the affected Wal-Marts. "This information is gathered and collected, and then mathematical equations are applied," Harris County sheriff's deputy Lisa Martinez said. "Crime analysis is technically a science."

It's all kind of interesting, except for one thing: The robberies in question took place between July and November last year. Which means police analysis showed the next crime would happen between Nov. 10 and 17 — it didn't. In fact, there have apparently been no more purse snatchings at the Wal-Marts since November. And yet KTRK interviewed shoppers this week, who said they keep an eye out for thieves and threatened to knock would-be criminals out with their handbags. (And no wonder, when they see stories on TV like "Muggers target Sunday shoppers at area Wal-Marts.")

The good news: Channel 13 promised that it would "continue tracking crime at area Wal-Marts using the Eyewitness News Crime Tracker and let you know when other crime trends and patterns develop" ... six months later.