HPD searching for guns missing from property room

Two HPD civilian employees have been removed from their jobs in the department's property room pending an investigation into 21 weapons that have been found missing from the facility since October — 19 of which are still unaccounted for. There are more than 18,000 guns in the property room that are either being held as evidence or are waiting to be destroyed, and HPD keeps track of them using a bar code system put in place in 2005. The system showed a 9mm handgun missing on Oct. 26, 2006, when it was being processed for destruction, but officials figured that was just a clerical error. Then, a second gun was found missing in November, a third in March and 18 more on Monday. Clerical error? We really hope not.

The interesting thing is this: Two of the missing guns turned back up in February and March after having been taken from two suspects in two separate incidents, which indicates that the guns — or at least some of them — are back on the streets. The suspects are being questioned about where they got the weapons, and HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said tracking down the other missing guns is a top priority of the department. "Nothing is more important right now than finding out who removed those weapons from the property room," Hurtt told KHOU. "When we find those answers the individual or individuals will be dealt with in the harshest manner that the criminal justice system allows."

Hurtt has criticized HPD's evidence collection system since he became chief; as of December 2008, the property room will be housed in a new, $13 million facility at 1202 Washington Ave. Construction on the new building should begin this summer.