Results tagged “hotspots”

Well, here's something to be proud of: Houston's homicide rate is now the second-highest among large American cities, according to FBI figures released Monday. Keep in mind that this is the homicide rate we're talking about — Houston's was 18.2 per 100,000 residents last year, putting us second only to Philadelphia and ahead of Dallas (fifth place), which has had a higher homicide rate than Houston for each of the last 11 years. The numbers...

This Saturday is the Inner Art Corridor's Second Annual Open Studio Tour. That means that all artists in the warehouse and private art sector will open their studios to the public. This is a great opportunity for artists and art lovers alike to see new works of art and to meet and chat with artists at their studios.

Looks like as long as you can keep from winning the lotto, you can also keep from getting killed. Last month, the city recorded only 24 homicides, down 20 percent from January 2006. Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said that he attributes the decline to HPD's heavy targeting of several hot spots in the city, but indicated that the cold weather might have had something to do with the decline as well. Hurtt hopes to...

We guess all the attention HPD has been paying to the southwest part of town is paying off: According to KHOU, the crime rate in the area dropped 32.3 percent in August compared to last August, even as overall crime in Houston fell 18.1 percent comparing this August with last.

SWAT team: "I just say the Paint SWAT Team because when we get it, it’s all about just taking it down. There’s no options," Tony Emmanuel with HPD Neighborhood Protection told Channel 11. (Check Emmanuel out in KHOU's video report. We think he has a career ahead as a graffiti-fighting action hero.)

Criminals beware: HPD is takin' it to the streets with its mobile command unit, a van that will hit high-crime areas throughout the city and strike fear in the heart of miscreants of all kinds. Yes, that's right: a van. (Not one like this, though. We think.)

Today, The Washington Post becomes the latest national newspaper to cover Houston's growing crime problem, focusing on the apartment complexes in southwest and north Houston that have become hotbeds of trouble since the Katrina evacuation.

KTRK reported Sunday on Mayor Bill White's field trip to the crime-ridden apartments of southwest Houston: The shooting death of an evacuee living in a motel is exactly the kind of crime Mayor Bill White and Houston police are working to stop. The mayor rode along with officers Saturday night in the city's hot spots in southwest and west Houston. Crime is on the rise, specifically around large apartment complexes. The mayor says several people...