Results tagged “hpdchiefharoldhurtt”

Good morning, Houston. Looks like there's another tropical disturbance out in the Gulf of Mexico — this one is called Invest 90L, and it looks like it could be headed for the upper Texas coast. The Chron's Eric Berger is keeping an eye on the system, which is located west of Florida and is headed in a general northwesterly direction; Berger reports that it could become a tropical storm by tomorrow, but isn't likely... more ›

It looks like the Houston Police Department is ready to get more serious about it's problem with drunk drivers. At a news conference today, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt unveiled a new van that will help catch drunk drivers. more ›

Despite initially vowing to keep writing tickets for drivers with obscured license plates until a revised state law takes effect in September, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt announced Tuesday that his department would stop writing such tickets after all — apparently feeling the heat from Mayor Bill White, who called obscured plate tickets a "gotcha system" earlier this week. As you'll recall, the state gave police the authority to write tickets for obscured license plates with... more ›

Just a couple of days after the Chronicle's Matt Stiles reported that HPD was still ticketing drivers for having license plate frames despite a new law meant to prevent them from doing so, Mayor Bill White said the police department should knock if off, calling the practice of writing tickets for obstructed license plates a "gotcha system." The 2003 law that technically allowed police to ticket drivers for having obscured plates was apparently intended to... more ›

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... more ›

Good morning, Houston. 'Stros win! 'Stros win! Whooooooo! Ahem. Yes, well, as you probably know by now, the Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 last night to end their 10-game losing streak. The game marked the highest run total for the 'Stros in three weeks, and the team's 16 hits matched their season high — not bad. "It was a fun night for everybody," Woody Williams told the AP. "I know it's one win,... more ›

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... more ›

The gunman who caused an evacuation at Johnson Space Center's Building 44 earlier today killed a hostage before killing himself, the New York Times is reporting. The gunman somehow got a revolver past security and barricaded himself in the building, which contains communication and tracking equipment for space shuttles. The gunman has been identified as William Phillips, 60. David Beverley, the dead hostage, who was shot in the chest, was a civil servant who worked... more ›

Houston's 2006 crime statistics were announced yesterday, and there's some good news: The city's overall crime rate fell 5 percent last year, meaning you're less likely to be robbed, raped, assaulted or have your car stolen. But while we're patting ourselves on the back, we might want to be a little careful we don't get murdered: Houston's homicide rate increased by 5 percent last year. Around every silver lining, there's a dark cloud. According to... more ›

Antonio WIlliams, a man police call "a new breed of killer," will appear in court today for his alleged role in at least seven murders in three months. Williams, 26, is charged or suspected in the string of killings that police say are rooted in a war between Houston drug dealers and rivals from New Orleans. Police say Williams' string of murders started June 16, 23 days after he got out of jail, where he... more ›

Juan Leonardo Quintero, the man accused of killing HPD Officer Rodney Johnson during a traffic stop last week, is scheduled to appear in court today — but Quintero's case may have farther-reaching effects than his own fate as it again brings up discussion of Houston's immigration policy. more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt announced yesterday that 10 more red-light cameras are being installed around town, some of them on state-owned roads thanks to a ruling from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. Hurtt said the cameras will begin operating in about a month at the East Freeway at Uvalde on the east side, FM 1960 at Tomball Parkway in northwest Houston and eight locations on the southwest side: the West Loop at Westheimer, the Southwest... more ›

Three months after the investigation into serious problems at HPD's crime lab was put on hold for lack of funding, not a lot has changed: The probe still isn't funded, and it looks like the city might not be willing to turn loose of the $1.5 million needed to complete it. more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt made an appearance before a City Council committee yesterday to explain his proposed new chase policy, which concerned city leaders because it would bar officers from chasing suspects who refuse to stop for minor violations. But the policy is really nothing to worry about, Hurtt told councilmembers — the problem is, it's just misunderstood. more ›

A police union has put up billboards critical of HPD to let people know "Houston is not a safe city" And today, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt defended the department's revised chase policy before City Council In the gubernatorial race, religion a common theme among the candidates — though everyone seems to have different views Looks like there's a common thread among the gubernatorial candidates ... and it's God Now in the baby world: ultrasound images... more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt is starting to respond to the complaints leveled against him in the police officers' union survey, saying officers were mistaken in calling him an overly strict disciplinarian. As a matter of fact, KHOU reports, he's practically a lovable old teddy bear in a uniform: more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt avoided a crash yesterday, and a group of his supporters are trying to help him avoid another one — the one that could be headed his way when the results of a police union survey come down. The survey, you'll remember, found that 75 percent of respondents said they had little or no confidence in Hurtt's ability to lead HPD. About 2,300 officers responded to the Houston Police Officers' Union survey,... more ›

So it looks like police officers aren't the only ones after HPD Chief Harold Hurtt: Now, 18-wheelers may be out to get him, too. more ›

It looks like the gloves are coming off with regard to the Houston Police Officers' Union survey: Mark Clark, the union's executive director, tells KPRC he wants HPD Chief Harold Hurtt fired if he doesn't change. About 2,300 officers — roughly half of those on the force — responded to the 13-question survey, which dealt with conditions in the police department and Hurtt's ability to lead it. And the results weren't good for the chief: Seventy-five percent of respondents said they don't feel confident in Hurtt's ability to lead. more ›

The defense in the Andrea Yates trial rested this afternoon; the state will now begin rebuttal and the case could go to the jury sometime next week Fort Bend detectives say they've made progress in their investigation of the death of Ashton Glover, the 16-year-old Sugar Land girl whose body was found in a field yesterday In Houston, the police officers' union is gathering the last responses to a survey it issued about HPD Chief... more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt reported yesterday that hurricane evacuees have been either the suspects or victims in about 21 percent of murders in Houston so far this year, and the city is on track to have the most murders in nearly 15 years. Hurtt could not immediately provide a break-down of how many of the 43 cases involved evacuee victims, and how many involved suspects that were evacuees. He says he's only pointing out the... more ›

More info today on the criticism of HPD Chief Harold Hurtt that we talked about yesterday: There's more of it coming from City Council, and the chief has struck back — well, sorta. more ›

Fed up with what they claim is incompetent leadership by HPD Chief Harold Hurtt, the Houston Police Officers' Union has asked its members to rate Hurtt's competency. The rating will be done through a mail survey that was recently sent to 4,700 HPD officers, with the main question being whether Hurtt is able to run the department. In a statement on the union's website, President Hans Marticiuc said the survey has been several months in... more ›

So here's one of the more interesting news stories from the weekend: the one about Sgt. Jack Oliver, the HPD officer who's undergoing a sex change. Oliver, who works out of the Fondren Division, has been with the force for almost 25 years; four months ago, he began taking hormone treatments, and that's what started getting him attention from his fellow cops. As KHOU reports, "he's soft-spoken, his hair is longer and his face appears smooth." more ›

To try to calm Taser critics, HPD is looking into equipping all its 3,700 Tasers with tiny cameras. Twenty officers across the city are now carrying video-equipped Tasers, which the department thinks might prove police are justified in using the weapons (or, we suppose, might show the opposite). Problem is, the cameras are part of modified Taser battery packs, so they only activate when the Tasers are turned on. That means the tapes only show the shot and what happens after it, not what provoked it. But is that a problem? more ›

The Chron's features staff takes an amusing look at surveillance cameras today in light of HPD Chief Harold Hurtt's call for citywide cameras. As the paper notes, Metro already has cameras focused on Main Street, so writer Lana Berkowitz decided to monitor one and see what went down. She watched the view from the cam at Main and McKinney for an hour, and she didn't see any suspicious goings-on — or did she? Some selections... more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt called on city leaders to direct more funding to police and on the public to help fight crime in neighborhoods during a visit with the Chronicle's editorial board yesterday, saying the department is stretched thin as violent crime increases. more ›

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt confirmed yesterday that Houston's homicide rate has spiked this year — compared with 2004, it's up 24 percent so far this year and up 70 percent in the last two months. The majority of killings, Hurtt said, began as violent disturbances, mostly in and around apartment complexes. Over the weekend, Mayor Bill White blamed the increased crime rate on some renegade Katrina evacuees — sorta — but the police shied away from that in Wednesday's press conference. more ›

Some Houstonians say pharmacists have refused to fill their prescriptions for Plan B, the super-strength birth-control pill Four suspects are in custody after an early morning police chase on the North Loop HPD Chief Harold Hurtt said a partnership between HPD and the ATF has made Houston's streets safer — at least a portion of them, anyway City Councilman Mark Goldberg suggested filing suit against owners of high-crime apartment complexes to make them install security... more ›