City adds $4 million to police overtime

Turner will boost patrols in six city regions in effort to curtail rising violent crime rate

Mayor Sylvester Turner said Monday he will spend $4.1 million to boost patrols in six regions in Houston to combat rising violent crime.

“Major cities across the nation are experiencing an increase in homicides, shootings and other crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Turner said. “There is no denying the virus has contributed to anxiety and stress as people cope with job losses, feelings of isolation, illness or death of loved ones, children learning at home virtually and fear of the unknown.”

Violent crime has risen about 11 percent, Turner said. There have been 302murders so far this year, an increase of 41 percent over the same period last year, according to Houston police data.

Chief Art Acevedo said he would use the money — taken fromthe city’s CARES Act funds — to pay overtime to add patrols to hot spots in six districts around the city: Westside, South Gessner, the North Belt, South East, Midwest and South Central.

“We want to do everything we can over the next 2.5 months to dampen that crime increase that we are seeing,” he said. “We’ll be relying on data to add more officers, more eyes, more visibility, and most importantly, more safety for the people of Houston. We are going to bewatching on a daily basis and we will have tactical intelligence and move our resources as needed because we know displacement can occur.”

The funding would pay for 110 officers to patrol those areas, Acevedo said, adding that the departmentwould shift funds elsewhere if officials see crime patterns shift.

“That does not mean were not going to be continuing to aggressively combat violent crime across the city,” he said. “This will

be a focus, but violent criminals are mobile.”

Council member Letitia Plummer said that in absence of financial help to address underlying conditions, the funding is welcome.

“We know that in times of widespread hardship, crime increases,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that the federal government’s inadequate fiscal response to the economic crisis caused by the virus is leaving municipal governments with few policy tools to combat the secondary effects of the pandemic. A one-time, $1,200 check from six months ago clearly hasn’t staved off the economic anxiety many are experiencing. Using $4 million in Cares Act funds isn’t ideal, but what choice does the city have when Washington isn’t helping ?”

Alan M. De Leon of MOVE Texas said the money could have been better spent.

“There are 34 eviction hearings in Harris County today, over 300 total last week,” he said. “$4.1 million could literally pay the rent for all of these people. Mayor Turner increases policing funding while choosing to stall on urgent police reforms and refuses to provide housing relief to local residents in the form of a Grace Period Ordinance. Funding police rather than protecting stable housing reflects a narrow understanding of public safety which has become an unfortunate norm in this city. ... This move is counterproductive to the goal of addressing the root causes of crime.”

A release from Turner said that the city has provided two rental assistance packages worth more than $35 million for Houstonians having trouble paying their rent as a result of hardships created by the pandemic.

In August, the City Council passed the City’s Small Business Economic Relief Program, which will be funded with $15 million of the City’s allocated CARES Act 2020 funds.

The release also noted that the Houston Health Department launched a mental health hot line, and the Mayor’s Office of Anti-Trafficking was expanded to include domestic violence to address the increase in domestic violence calls.