200 Officers Serve 300 Warrants To Accused Abusers
Offenders' Mug Shots, Crime To Be Posted On HPD Web Site

POSTED: 6:56 a.m. CDT August 23, 2005
UPDATED: 7:49 a.m. CDT August 23, 2005


Story by Click2Houston

HOUSTON -- Hundreds of Houston police officers raided homes Tuesday in search of suspects wanted for domestic abuse, Local 2 reported.

About 200 officers from the Houston Police Department and 13 other law enforcement agencies in Houston and Harris County were out in force early Tuesday morning to issue more than 300 arrest warrants to suspects accused of hurting their spouses or children.

Houston Police Department Chief Harold Hurtt announced the "Abusers Are Losers" program last week. The initiative is also part of HPD's "Men Against Family Violence" campaign.

"We are seeking everyone with an open warrant for child or intimate partner abuse. We are coming to get you," Hurtt said.

Local 2 reported that 50 suspects have been arrested on domestic or child abuse charges since the initiative began late last week. Thirteen suspects were taken into custody Tuesday morning.

"Those who have been arrested will have their mug shots displayed on our Web site along with a brief summary of their crime," Hurtt said.

HPD said they received 31,000 reports of domestic violence in 2004. Because of that violence, 34 people died, including 10 children.

Quoted: "Those who have been arrested will have their mug shots displayed on our Web site along with a brief summary of their crime," Hurtt said.

Nice to see that we are making sure to damage them before any pesky details like trials and so forth.  Bravo.  Don't have any issue with serving the warrents but the publicty sideshow angle of this stinks.

Quoted: intimate partner abuse.

I am not against the post or the round up, but how much further can they extend the concept of wife-beating/spousal battery/domestic violence/...?  Intimate partner abuse sounds like plain old assault (or sexual assault) more than traditional spousal battery.  Is this new definition because of the "baby daddy/boyfriend-father" problems where it doesn't fit "domestic"?

300 people will have their guns confiscated if they haven't removed them from their premises

Quoted: Quoted: intimate partner abuse. I am not against the post or the round up, but how much further can they extend the concept of wife-beating/spousal battery/domestic violence/...?  Intimate partner abuse sounds like plain old assault (or sexual assault) more than traditional spousal battery.  Is this new definition because of the "baby daddy/boyfriend-father" problems where it doesn't fit "domestic"?

Yup.

Quoted: Having lived in Houston for ten years, I'm setting here shaking my head for I know HPD hasn't changed and still has more than they can handle. Many may wonder why 300 warrants at one time and 200 officers but not me for I know most of these complaints went nowhere for the longest time since there wasn't the manpower to handle the day to day let alone outstanding complaints. These HPD initiatives rarely make a dent in the problems they are trying to solve but it does make the news and we only hope makes a badguy think twice.   That's the sad truth of the matter. Of all the places I have lived or traveled, I have to say HPD was and is the most overburdened under staffed police department I know of.  In my time living there it was rare to meet an HPD officer with more than five years service without some battle scar or bullet hole in his body.  I shit you not. Tj

Like I said I have no problem with the warrent service.  Nor with them talking to the media really, it's that in combination with placing their details in public view before any convictions.  Looks like a stunt and if a few people who really did nothing get ruined by it oh well.  We need to "send a message".  Post thier details on conviction and I'd be all for it.

Yes, I'm aware that there are LOTs of beaters out there.  No, I don't think they are ALL framed by an ex, but it does happen and it's not to be simply brushed aside.

Honestly how do they retain officers when it's that bad?  Sounds like a shit-hole to work in, but I guess that's not really surprising.  Cities seem to be largely shit-holes really, no matter how pretty the buildings.

Quoted: Quoted: Having lived in Houston for ten years, I'm setting here shaking my head for I know HPD hasn't changed and still has more than they can handle. Many may wonder why 300 warrants at one time and 200 officers but not me for I know most of these complaints went nowhere for the longest time since there wasn't the manpower to handle the day to day let alone outstanding complaints. These HPD initiatives rarely make a dent in the problems they are trying to solve but it does make the news and we only hope makes a badguy think twice.   That's the sad truth of the matter. Of all the places I have lived or traveled, I have to say HPD was and is the most overburdened under staffed police department I know of.  In my time living there it was rare to meet an HPD officer with more than five years service without some battle scar or bullet hole in his body.  I shit you not. Tj Like I said I have no problem with the warrent service.  Nor with them talking to the media really, it's that in combination with placing their details in public view before any convictions.

It's likley that many of these people have already been convicted of the charges and bench warrants were issued after they failed to complete court ordered anger managment classes, restitution payments, or failed to turn themselves into custody to serve their sentance.  Its not uncommon for the same case to go to warrant several times after conviction for the reasons i listed among others.

LINK

"Events" like this only serve to show the public exactly what it is that they are not doing 364 days of the year.

Just like the Chippys out here when they decided to crack down on speeders on interstate 5 a few months back.  One was only left with the question of whether that was the only time they ever spent time looking for speeders.

If it's News, that means it's out of the ordinary...otherwise it wouldn't be new.

I'm going to take a wild guess that most of those warrants are in the "ghetto" or "barrio" areas of Houston.

Quoted: Just like the Chippys out here when they decided to crack down on speeders on interstate 5 a few months back.  One was only left with the question of whether that was the only time they ever spent time looking for speeders.

FWIW when CHP officers are not writing the thousands of daily traffic collision reports that occur on the freeway everyday, they are expected to write 100 speeding tickets a month, make one DUI arrest per night shift, and are not allowed to do consent searches.  Every CHP officer I know works his ass off.

Quoted: Quoted: Just like the Chippys out here when they decided to crack down on speeders on interstate 5 a few months back.  One was only left with the question of whether that was the only time they ever spent time looking for speeders. FWIW when CHP officers are not writing the thousands of daily traffic collision reports that occur on the freeway everyday, they are expected to write 100 speeding tickets a month, make one DUI arrest per night shift, and are not allowed to do consent searches.  Every CHP officer I know works his ass off.

It's not a quota people!  It's a "minimum enforcement standard".  Get it straight.

What a sad response.


(I'll grant you that Chippy works pretty damn hard and do an even more thankless job than local police agencies.)

For those of you griping about the privacy aspect of it,  Arrests/charges are public record.  About the only time they're sealed is when a juvenile is involved.