Mayor, HPD officials say city’s crime plan is moving in ‘right direction’
This year’s homicide rate has now fallen below what it was in 2021 for the first time in 2022, Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Tuesday at a press conference alongside police officials from Houston.
Homicides, Turner said, are just one category of violent crime his “One Safe Houston” initiative has had an impact on since it was implemented in early February after a rocky start to the year.
“Last year at this time we had 192 murders in our city. As of this morning, that number is 187. So we’re 3% below where we were last year,” Turner said. . “These numbers are trending in the right direction.”
Turner’s initiative is designed to tackle a spike in crime, including homicides. In 2020, Houston recorded 400 homicides which then increased the following year by 15% to 469, according to crime statistics.
The local increase in homicides during and immediately after the pandemic echoes a national trend, according to FBI statistics. In 2020, homicides increased by 30% nationally compared to 2019.
The other local initiative categories — rape, robbery and aggravated assault — also posted declining numbers, according to HPD violent crime statistics.
So far in 2022, the city has seen a 33% drop in reported rapes from the same time last year, a 14.1% drop in robberies and a 9.5% drop in lanes serious fact.
Turner sought to assure Houstonians that the $44 million federally funded initiative was working to address public safety concerns in the city.
“When you look at where we are today with the measures we have put in place, by all indications the ‘One Safe Houston’ initiative is working and the numbers speak for themselves,” a- he added, citing currently sitting homicide solve rates. at 80% – higher than in 2020 and 2021.
The $44 million in federal dollars for the initiative, announced by the mayor in February, would be allocated to different categories: $10 million for violence reduction and crime prevention – including $5.7 million in overtime for Houston Police Department patrols with 125 additional officers a day — and about $34 million more for crisis intervention, response and recovery, which aims to expand mental health programs existing.
Houston Chief Executive Matt Slinkard — who attended Chief Troy Finner’s press conference — praised the mayor’s extensive efforts to fight crime.
“Even in a very difficult and constrained fiscal environment, you have given us the resources we need to try to be as responsive as possible to the citizens of this great city,” Slinkard said. “It speaks to the more holistic efforts that need to be made for us to address violent crime in any of America’s great cities.”
While progress has been seen, Slinkard said, the department continues to work through issues such as review officer response times and incoming cadet classes to replenish the department’s ranks.
“Attrition is something that we deal with on an annual basis. Some years attrition will tend to increase and retirements will be higher than other years,” he said. by the end of this year we will have a net positive gain in officers after taking into account attrition.”
As for the summer, Turner said the city will also support the initiative with a gun buyback program slated for July, the reentry program aimed at providing jobs and housing for formerly incarcerated people.
“So it’s not just one piece, but all these pieces working together. Again, we’re not where we want to be, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction.
Attempts to reach the Houston Police Officers Union for comment Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.