HPD crime van no deterrent to armed robbers

Well, so much for the theory that HPD's crime van is going to be a deterrent to crimes: Early Thursday morning, three men were held up at gunpoint across the street from the van in southwest Houston.

It happened at about 3:30 a.m., when three shotgun-toting guys held up three men (and beat one of them) at an apartment complex near Bissonnet and Fondren. After being robbed, the victims spotted the crime van across the street and ran to it for help. The gunmen got away with money, jewelry and a car stereo, KPRC reports.

The van — officially the Unified Neighborhood Enhancement Team, and actually more of a mobile home than anything — was rolled out a few weeks ago as a mobile command unit in the high-crime southwestern neighborhoods. It started out near Fondren and Bellfort and later moved to Sharpstown Mall; the van had been at Bissonnet and Fondren for about 12 hours before yesterday's armed robbery took place.