Why do we have a police department? To go out and catch bad guys, right?
A new policy rolled out late Tuesday by the Houston Police Department will prohibit officers from chasing minor traffic offenders who refuse to stop.
The new policy - read at roll call Tuesday night - was signed into immediate effect by Houston police Chief Harold Hurtt.
Houston Police Officers’ Association President Hans Marticiuc said the new policy will make officers less effective on the streets.
“Sometimes, they run out of fear. Sometimes, it’s other outstanding warrants for minor offenses,” Marticiuc said. “And sometimes, they run because they have committed a more serious crime. Why give those people the right to take off from us?”
Marticiuc conceded that high-speed police chases often put police officers and the public in peril.
“We know that chases are dangerous, they are extremely dangerous,” Marticiuc said. “But rather than looking at how to shorten them and stop them, the message here is, ‘Let’s not chase (suspects) at all.’”
Hey, at least I know I’m never getting another ticket.
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That’s stupid. All anyone has to say now is “that wasn’t me in the car, someone else must have been driving it - I loaned it to my brother Joe - it was stolen and I just hadn’t gotten around to reporting it. Oh, you mean that’s my car in the driveway? Its a MIRACLE!”
Just when I think the Mayor has out done stupid he bests himself.
I guess the next time you pass an Officer shooting radar on the side of the highway and he pulls out to stop you, the best thing to do is just punch it. Why stop if he will not chase you and he has not yet had a chance to get you plate number?
Marticiuc is right. You don’t know how bad a person you are letting go by not pursuing them for arrest. What ever happen to that theory of intervention to stop potentially current and possibly future criminal elements from getting bad starts in life. That person getting away is now free to commit more crimes, knowing the police will not chase after them. Good job, Hurtt!!!!
Whassamatter? This is so obvious! Don’t you know that this is to keep us citizens safe? Mr. Hurtt obviously believes that the cops will catch up to the bad guys later when they committ another crime and their getaway vehicle won’t go faster than thirty MPH! Plus, look at all of the gas the cops will save! As NEO has said: “Un-freaking believable!”
On a similar note… any of you read/hear about the border patrol agent that are facing ten years in the slammer for shooting some mexican drug smuggler in the arse? The liberal judges in the judicial system have gone completely off their rocker!
This is about the most assinine policy I have ever seen. About the only people who are going to run from a flippin speeding ticket or seat belt violation are people who are already in trouble with the law. Untold numbers of dangerous criminals are taken off the streets every year because of routine traffic stops, why should they even bother stopping now? and how many serial killers or rapists or parole violators will remain free because of this stupid policy.
I think it is time to start working on a city charter ammendment petition eliminating the “strong mayor” form of government and instead put more power into the hands of city council and the voters and simplify the procedure for recall elections for all city government officials.
Matt, you beat me to this one only because I had a Dr’s appt this morning.
Rorschach, just spread that ointment on a couple times a day and it’ll clear up in a few days.
I guess at least the constables and sherrif’s dept aren’t under such ridiculous restrictions…
Once someone refuses to stop the previous “minor” traffic offense automatically becomes a felony of “evading”. Now are the cops not supposed to stop felons as well? It was also extremely stupid of HPD to let this new insane policy be made public. That just encourages everyone to run, which puts more of the public in danger. Just as stupid as making public the insane “cops can’t protect themselves - they have less rights than citizens” policy of the Sheriff’s Dept where they don’t want deputies to stop criminals from running cops over with their cars - unless of course the criminals are shooting at them at the same time. I am so happy to know that our men in blue (and brown and black, etc.) have obtained Superman powers and can leap over the vehicle that is trying to run them down!
How long before the city or county is sued because the police DIDN’T stop a wreckless driver and someone is killed because they ran a stop sign and caused a fatal accident. You know that someone will step up and say that this person committted the same traffic offense earlier but wasn’t stopped for it.
PC and libs will/are driving this country into the ground.
Run Red run - you son of a gun…
Every time I think the city under the “leadership” of this mayor has hit bottom, they unload a truck full of shovels…
Matt, that ointment ain’t gonna cut it, I’t gonna take antibiotics to clear that rash up….=D
I think the city should supply all cop cars with “red light camera technology” so that all the cops need to do is take a picture of the fleeing car and send the offenders tickets through the mail for not stopping.
I guess the city will start firing Police Officers for doing their job.
#5 malcolm
On a similar note… any of you read/hear about the border patrol agent that are facing ten years in the slammer for shooting some mexican drug smuggler in the arse? The liberal judges in the judicial system have gone completely off their rocker!
No, not off their rocker, just sadly missing cajones.
I like this part from one of HPD’s Sergeants…
““This is a change, and officers will not chase for minor (traffic offenses) and officers will obey that rule and be happy with it,” McDuell said.”
Obey the rule and be happy, what a suck a$$!!!!!!
It’s been a year ago April since I quit HPD and am sooooo glad!! Adios mofo’s!! All my buddies still there hate working for HPD. I talk to them quite often and see some regularly. I also have family that still works for HPD. It’s just a paycheck to lots of them. Most of the officers I know don’t even live in Houston. The next time you meet an HPD officer, ask them if they live in Houston. I bet you they live in Montgomery county or elsewhere. HPD has been neutered, and those don’t grow back.
Does this also mean the we won’t get to see the local TV folks with “breaking news” with helicopters showing us the high speed chases all around the city any more? Horrors! How will we ever survive? I can see and hear the alternative:
“We now interupt our regular programming with breaking news! HPD is now in pursuit of an unidentified person who alledgedly ran a stop sign near the Galleria. They are traveling West on 610 North Loop in a 1952 grey four-door Studebaker at an increased rate of speed with the Houston SWAT team in hot pursuit. Let’s go to the new chopper video. Melvin, can you tell our audience what’s going on? Melvin, the reporter in the air says:” Surely! The Studebaker that has the alledged stop sign violator inside just passed three eighteen wheelers and is now passing Memorial Drive with SWAT’s Hummer trying to keep pace. The traffic this time of day is horrible. He’s weaving in and out of the traffic lanes. The car is accellerating faster and faster. He must be going at least 35 now and the SWAT team is falling further and further back. It looks as if the Studebaker driver just threw something out of his car. It looks like a bag of something but it’s too far away for me to tell. Now he’s just thrown out a shotgun. He’s pulling further and further away from the police. The studebaker is getting away! Te driver is giving some kind of hand signal to the police. The SWAT team is now exiting the freeway. Too bad. The good thing about this is there are is no danger to local drivers and pedestrians with HPD’s Chief Hurtt’s recent policy on chasing minor traffic offenders. Houston is a much safer place because of this new policy. Back to you in the studio.”
Holy Crappola! Is everyone going absolutely nuts/mad execpt us?
I wonder if the policy will be changed if ticket revenues to the city start to fall.
Lair Simon made a good point over at BlogHouston, apparently Hurt has instituted a similar policy in every city he has worked in.
That man needs to go away post haste and his stupid boss too.
Effing Liberals!
Now, when I drive through Houston. I’ll mash the pedal to the firewall and really be FASTERNU!! Hahahahahaha! It’s on baby! HPD inhale my greenhouse gasses!
http://www.americanmusclegrafix.com/images/New_Pics/71gtx1.jpg
Oh crap! Was that a DPS Trooper???
again…”Houston, we have an idiot!”
Ref #18:
I guess the city figures the loss of speeding ticket revenue will be offset by those “red light cameras” and the gas savings from those guzzling police cars. They also have the safer parking ticket revenue to fall back on. Nobody should get hurt from writing parking tickets except for maybe work comp related to hand writting cramps. Maybe they can start ticketing those cars that illegally park in those handicap spaces, that would be nice.
#22 - Referencing handicap space parking - Why do those with handicapped placards get to park their $40,000 Hummers for free? Isn’t it enough that they get to park close (which, if they are truly in need of this I am not opposed) but why don’t they have to pay to park like the rest of us? If they can afford the ticket to the ball game (or whatever) then they can afford to pay to park!
Way to think out of the box Robert. Since the cops won’t be chasing criminals the city can buy Hugo’s and save money.
No arrest of illegals for no drivers liscence, vehicle insurance or drunk drivers (mayor’s daughter comes to mind - she got arrested by a Constable who doesn’t answer to the mayor).
And we all thought Lee period Pee period Brown was a bad police chief! Seems like this is a requirement for Houston’s police chiefs. We can all hope he will not run for Mayor one day.
Ya know, it would almost be worth renting a studio apartment inside the city limits and running for mayor myself on the platform that I’d fire Hurtt, hire an agressive go-getter for police chief, disband METRO and sell off the transit agency to a private company and force them to make a profit, force all METRO cops to either join HPD or take a hike, disband the GHCAVB, and the sports authority, and then on my way out the door, change the city’s charter to a weak mayor form of government, and get it passed.
27
Ink man! I’d rent a place there just to vote for ya!!!
Just think. If Hurtt becomes mayor and extends the rail line, it can them become known at the Brown Hurtt Streak!!
Ref #27:
Can you imagine your simple platform for getting elected—-DON’T NEED THIS, DON’T NEED THAT AND THAT COST TOO MUCH!!!!!
#30 and what is wrong with that? sounds like a pretty good platform to me. throw every penny saved into hiring more cops.
I would be a benevolent dictator cleaning the sewers of city government, and when I left, not only would the sewers be clean, but I would have ensured that the next guy coming down the pike couldn’t screw it all up again.
Heck, maybe I’d hire Fasternu as police chief, HE gets it!
#28, think we could get KSEV to endorse me?
Rorschach
I’d vote for you! Fasternu would make a great police chief!
Texas’ DPS currently has the most comprehensive yet common sense “chase policy.” Why on earth did not Hurtt and his advisory underlings review it for potential implementation in Houston? Too busy planning his weekend trips back to Phoenix, I’d guess.
If all citizens were allowed to openly carry firearms as should be their birthright, crime would go way down. There were all those lefties who said the concealed carry law would result in gunfights on every corner. It hasn’t happened here or anywhere else. Same with honest citizens in general. If you’re a convicted felon, you don’t get to carry anyway. Criminals would think twice about shooting any cop if they knew that every citizen around them would open fire on them.
And don’t give me any guff about citizens now being qualified to do this:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/04/22/17344121.php
Four officers returned fire, but they all missed, prosecutors said. Boyd got out, walked toward the back of the car and at some point had his arms up, prosecutors said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050514-0017-deputies-shooting.html
The deputies fired 120 rounds in the early morning confrontation, striking Hayes four times and bruising one deputy who was hit in his bulletproof vest. Hayes is recovering at a hospital.
Here is a thought for another plank in my platform in that vein: If you are a CHL holder, then you get a $50 or $75 break on your city property taxes to offset the savings in having to provide 24/7 police protection for you individually. If you AND your wife AND your adult children living with you have a CHL, the amounts double or triple or whatever depending on the number of CHL holders living in your home.
32
Wooooo HOO! ME BIG CHEEF!
HPD pursuit vehicles when Ink man gets elected:
http://www.motortrend.com/motor/multimedia/wallpaper/112_0602_dodge_challenger_front_wm.jpg
And every officer can carry an AR-15 or an M14 (after purchasing it themselves). Firearms training will be taught by former NAVY SEALS or Marine firearms instructors (no more misses). Two man units!!! Report calls will be handled over the telephone. Get rid of 1200 Travis! Use the old Central Station and Artesian area as HQ like the old days!! Preference to hiring will be given to veterans over college grads. The vets have some discipline and don’t whine! Fire every assistant chief and promote only those qualified! Weed out all political promotions!!! Only three assistant chiefs needed, not the sixteen or whatever they now have. Those payrolls would fund the pursuit vehicles!!!
I’d chuck the HPD General Orders manual and use the Penal Code as the guidelines at HPD just like DPS! Follow the laws of Texas, no more, no less!
Sell the redlight cameras on EBAY!
Rorschach, allow me to be your campaign manager. Here is what I see as your “Top Ten” priorities or your platform:
1) Catch the criminals, lock’m up and lose the key.
2) Eliminate the Sports Authority–Didn’t need them then, don’t need them now.
3) Eliminate Metro–worthless then, worthless now.
4) No “Sanctuary City”–Roundup all the illegal aliens and deport them.
5) By cutting costs, we can cut property taxes.
6) Relocate all the New Orleans people back to New Orleans.
7) Review the school budgets for over spending.
9) Only vital services need submit a budget, all others can say goodbye.
10) Reduce the dictatorial powers of mayor.
I hope you like the platform I have created for your campaign. I pretty sure there are others.
Robert,
Do you do the Top Ten Lists for Letterman too?!?
As I recall, many of the local police chases I’ve heard about where a felon (robber, car thief, murderer, etc.) was involved began as a traffic violation, and the officer did not know the driver was a felon. HPD’s brass (and their boss Mayor White) have lost what little was left of their senses!
Only one I’d disagree with is #8, I’m a firm believer in awarding bonuses for outstanding work. It’s a capitalist system after all, why bust your hump when the guy down the hall is mailing it in? The problem is the mechanism used to define who gets it. Award police bonuses on the number of arrests that lead to convictions. The higher the sentence handed down, the higher the bonus. Catch the serial killer, you get the bonus AND bumped to seargent. you spend all your time running a radar gun in a speed trap, well, don’t expect to win any awards for meritorious service. That way by tying it to convictions it discourages arrests that the DA won’t bother with or are wobbly on evidence. not only do you have to arrest em, you have to make it stick too.
I’d hold off on #10 until the last six months of the final term, no point making myself a lame duck from the get go.
Fasternu, for the motorcycle cops, I say give em these:
http://www.marineturbine.com/motorsports.asp
For the cruisers, make sure you have nitrus and a blower on that Hemi-charger. There ain’t NO WAY I’m lettin some punk in a ricer with dual blowers and nitrus get away from you guys. Let’s keep the playing field uneven.
As far as the weapons go, hell, I’ll buy full auto M-16’s for the guys, or maybe MP-5’s. No point making THEM pay for em, they don’t make enough as it is. I want the bad guys either dead or in jail. I really don’t much care which. And MA Deuces under the hood of the cruisers too. Chase? What Chase? Pitt the guy and pull the trigger, end of chase.
Only the best for the guys on the pointy end of the stick.
sell the Tasers on ebay too. I don’t want em plucking the darts out and shooting our guys, I want the guy assuming room temp if he’s belligerant.
and I’ll look into buying surplus Army Apache’s for the flyboys too.
All that would STILL be cheaper than the crap the city is wasting money on.
We lets just put tracking devices in all cars so we can track the runners? Cameras on all streets. Probbelm solved!
Hey, if you arent doing anything wrong?
Its coming and without a fight.
Personally I think once you run from a cop in your vehicle it is no different than running away with a loaded gun. The cops should BLAST the perp into tomorrow!
We are all responsible for the events taking place.
At least the Pasadena police are allowed to do their job. By taking this guy in on unrelated charges, they caught a murderer. What a concept!
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4136058.html
During chases, we used to do things I won’t admit to here!! But rest assured, most patrol officers at HPD are pretty resourceful and not skeerd! They’ll find a way around this policy.
It’s the cubicle-cops that make policy though!!
fasternu
#47
Agreed! My ex was with HPD for 37 years and you wouldn’t believe the stories. A really funny one was back in the early 60’s when he “performed” divorces. These were in the “hood” and were the results of domestic violence. He told the couples (not HPD approved, BTW) that he could perform divorces free of charge. By his “power” he divorced them and the domestic violence went down 90%. “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you truly divorced” or something like that. It meant nothing, since most of those folk were not married, but living together (common law) but they took it as serious!
I’ve got more!