Crime crackdown results in 450 arrests
State-led ‘Operation North Star’ removes ‘scores of violent offenders’ from county streets
In two operations lasting just under 20 days, the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office and the state’s public safety department arrested more than 450 people under a state-led push to reduce violent crime in the Houston region, authorities announced Monday.
The number of arrests represents a boost over a similar time span, said Jason Spencer, a Harris County Sheriff ’s Office spokesman, who added the sheriff ’s office was responsible for at least 316 arrests while the Texas Department of Public Safety made the remainder.
Spencer said the “significant increase” in arrests is based on anecdotal information directly from those involved in the operations.
The results of the initiative, dubbed Operation North Star, which launched in early April, were announced Monday by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. A month ago, Abbott pledged state resources to fight violent crime in Harris County and the city of Houston.
The ongoing operation is a joint effort between the state and Houston Police Department and the sheriff ’s office. As of Monday afternoon, only the results of operations of Harris County and DPS were released.
Two separate operations
Within the last month since the effort was announced, Harris County and DPS conducted two operations.
The first was launched on the north side of Harris County and lasted about two weeks and led to the arrests of 224 individuals on 283 misdemeanor charges and 78 felony charges, Spencer said.
The second operation was conducted on the west side of the county and lasted six days. It resulted in 92 arrests on 114 misdemeanor charges and 16 felony charges, Spencer added.
Additional details about the crimes and those arrested weren’t released by press time Monday.
Spencer would not disclose if any other investigations were ongoing, saying that it could jeopardize the success of any additional operations.
The results come a little over a month since Abbott made a brief visit to Houston to announce the anti-crime initiative. The push to reduce crime in Houston is designed to redirect state law enforcement resources to assist the region.
Abbott’s plan also provides $500,000 in new funding from the Governor’s Office to increase Texas Anti-Gang Center resources.
The North Star initiative was welcomed by local leaders, but Abbott’s claim that violent crime in Houston “is increasing at an alarming rate” irked Mayor Sylvester Turner and left Houston police Chief Art Acevedo scratching his head.
Turner objects to rhetoric
In unveiling the crackdown, Abbott and Steven McCraw, Texas Department of Public Safety director, said Houston-area residents were living in a constant fear because of the heinous murders taking place within Houston.
“I don’t want you coming to the city of Houston and knocking this city. I’m not going to accept that from anyone,” Turner said in early April. “I appreciate the governor’s concern, but we will do our very best to protect the citizenry, and I applaud HPD, Chief Acevedo for what they’re doing.”
Acevedo called the governor’s assertion false. He said crime had remained relatively flat in Houston for the last five years.
At the time of Abbott’s announcement, the police chief did not speculate on why the governor would make such statements, but said it goes against the data his department has collected.
Even so, a day after the governor’s visit, Acevedo confirmed his department would assign two squads to help with the state’s initiative.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Monday praised the partnership with the state.
“Operation North Star … removed scores of violent offenders from our neighborhoods,” he said. “I want to thank the team of law officers from DPS and other partner agencies that helped the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office make our community safer by zeroing in on violent criminals who pose a real threat to Texas.”