Harold Hurtt, Houston’s ineffectual police chief, now has a blog:
Welcome to my blog. I realize that I’m not the first police chief to start using a blog to communicate with local residents, and I’m hoping Houstonians will forgive me for being a little late to the game.
Of course we will! Houstonians are nice people. Of course, Hurtt wouldn’t know that, because he lives in Phoenix.
I plan to use this forum as a tool to let you see some of the “behind the scenes” good work done by the men and women of the Houston Police Department … the kinds of things you aren’t likely to see on the news. As you probably realize, the news media doesn’t always show you the positive stories … and at HPD, there are lots of good, positive things going on.
For example, did you know that the vast majority of Houstonians didn’t get murdered this weekend?
Despite the headlines, violent crime is down, and, for its size, Houston is a safe city.
This is where Hurtt flat-out lies. Take a look at the statistics, and you’ll see that Houston is not a safe city compared to other big cities in this country. Our murder rate is worse than Los Angeles’, worse than Chicago’s and more than double New York’s. Why? Because the number of officers has declined even as the city grows. Because Hurtt and the mayor insist on throwing acronyms at crime, instead of officers.
Hurtt’s answer to Houston’s high crime rate? He wants to put cameras in Tasers. Oh, and he wants new shiny gold badges.
And there are things you can do, in partnership with HPD, to make it even safer. I encourage you to check this site periodically because I’m hoping to show you how you can help make a difference in your neighborhood and this city.
For starters, HPD could really use your help as a volunteer. We have several programs that might interest you: Citizens Offering Police Support (where you can work in a variety of jobs and divisions here at HPD), Citizens On Patrol, Houston Citizens’ Police Academy, and the Police and Clergy Team (PACT.) For more information on these and other volunteer programs, see this page of our web site.
Thanks for visiting. I look forward to hearing from you.
BlogHoustonian Kevin Whited also noticed something funny about the Chief’s blog. The first comment was apparently left by some lazy brown-noser at HPD:
I hope you like the layout, your webdesigners worked very hard on getting it up and running with a professional image.
As Kevin points out, those hardworking web designers just used a basic Blogger template:
/* ----------------------------------------------- Blogger Template Style Name: Minima Lefty Designer: Douglas Bowman / Darren Delaye URL: www.stopdesign.com Date: 14 Jul 2006----------------------------------------------- */
I thought that was pretty funny.
Unfortunately, the rest of Hurtt’s tenure isn’t. It’s been marked by a failure of crime lab oversight, high violent crime rates, and a general lack of seriousness about his job.
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If violent crime is down how in the hell did Houston rate back in the top 5 cities in Murders. For the first time in over a decade.
Of course we will! Houstonians are nice people. Of course, Hurtt wouldn’t know that, because he lives in Phoenix.
I loved that. I’ll be in Phoenix for two weeks soon… maybe I’ll run into him.
#2 - Hey take ole Hurtt over to visit Sheriff JOE ARPAIO and learn how a sho nuff JAIL oughtta be run!!!
Did any of you catch the piece on the news last night about the rise in crime at the Metro bus stops? Channel 11 interviewed the Metro Police about this. There response was that there are too many bus stops to cover all of them. It is not our job anyway, the neigborhoods should watch out for crime…………What, it is not the job of the police to fight crime??????
Here is my comment. We’ll see if they post it.
I hope the Police Chief will allow me to add to his website with my “Top Ten” list of accomplishments achieved since Chief Hurtt took over. Here they are:
1) Robberies are down at the doughnut shops in and around Houston.
2) Police officers are able to get degrees of higher education from fake universities at the taxpayer’s expense thanks to Wayne at Channel 13.
3) Most of the police officers are able to maintain two jobs at the same time. Just check the records or ask Wayne at Channel 13.
4) Look, anyone is better than Lee. P. Brown!!
5) We’ve managed to blame the New Orleans refugees for the spike in crime.
6) The illegal aliens are protected better than ever under my administration.
7) We always volunteer to be the first department to make cuts when there is a budget crisis.
9) When dealing with some of the minority group’s complaints, I have been successful in using the “race card” to defuse the matter.
10) Flights between Houston and Phoenix and back are same from hijackers while I double as an “air marshall”.
I pretty sure I have lised all the accomplishments, so feel free to add to my list.
I’m no fan of Hurtt’s, but it’s inaccurate to say his tenure has been marked by “high violent crime rates.”
There was an uptick in murders in Houston last year, but it coincided with an even larger increase in population over the previous year because of Katrina. Prior to that, violent crime rates had declined over time from a high about ten or twelve years ago, and overall reported crime has declined.
OTOH, any attempts by Mr. Hurtt to ever get into my good graces were shot by his proposal to use building codes to require surveillance cameras in new apartments and businesses with video feeds to the PD. You wouldn’t see me shed a tear if he went home to Phoenix.
Wow.. they actually allow comments?
I’d like to know the ratio of those comments that get posted to those which don’t!
Citizens on Patrol - wasn’t that the title of Police Academy 4? Maybe we can hire Bobcat Goldwaithe and Steve Guttenberg as consultants.
#7 Violent crime has been in decline nationwide, and it isn’t necessarily due to stellar police work. Houston is lagging the other major cities in this overall decline. Reducing blue cars on the city streets is the worst possible approach, and Houston hasn’t been heading in the right direction for a while. (Just got done reading Freakonomics)
Just a small word here. Police do not prevent crime. Not never. They can do nothing until crime has been committed. So it should be. We would stand for nothing less. Police numbers will never reduce crime. We would not stand for proactive actions. That would mean police would target folks before a crime had been committed and that would be unjust. They already step over the line. Lets not start another pot to boiling to increase an already ardent desire many carry for a new American Revolution. I have always wanted to have the Great Republic of Texas back…but that is another discussion for another time.
Nonsense. What do you do when you’re flying down the interstate and you see a black-and-white on the shoulder?
IF police don’t prevent crime, then why is my subdivison paying for a Constable to patrol? Because when criminals see a subdivision patrolled, they are less apt to break in! DUH
I wouldn’t call Chief Hurtt’s webpage a blog. It is just an extention of the City of Houston website. No place where he puts any information. One place the Chief should check out on the site is the “Relocate to Houston” packet. Possibly that would be of benefit.
#11…ummm…and just who would live in this crime-free Great Republic of Texas??
Matt’s right. An adequate police presence DOES prevent crime in many ways. The lack of police presence emboldens questionable individuals to commit criminal acts because there is less fear of being caught than if police activity was frequently seen in the area where said questionable individuals were.
“I’m hoping Houstonians will forgive me for being a little late to the game.”
No, it’s being a self serving dumba$$ that is inexcusable.
Yeah, blogging will reduce crime! Go Hurtt! You fookin’ moron…
And the major media in this town are so lame I’ll bet only a fraction of the citizens know this clown doesn’t even live here. Whey does the City Council not raise hell about that?