Awesome, thanks New Orleans

[johnsmith]

Ken Rodriguez: Hurricane Katrina evacuees were the X factor in very deadly 2006

Web Posted: 01/13/2007 10:53 PM CST


San Antonio Express-News

It was a strange year for murder in Texas.
Homicides in Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin plunged to levels not seen since the 1960s.


advertisement



There were rising body counts in Houston (up 13.5 percent), San Antonio (32 percent) and Corpus Christi (188 percent ).

Guess which police departments issued the most press releases?

Given the recent numbers in U.S. News & World Report — homicides are up 6 percent overall in the 20 largest U.S. cities — Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin should feel good.

Corpus? Police there have an explanation for the off-the-chart jump in murders: 2005.

Authorities say that year was an anomaly. Only nine homicides were recorded. The 26 bodies that turned up last year approximated the pre-2005 average.

Then there was Houston. Mayor Bill White attributed part of the e in slayings to hurricane evacuees. "We did have a surge in population from a city (New Orleans) where the homicide rate is eight times the national average," White told the Houston Chronicle.

Houston police tracked Katrina-related crime. San Antonio police did not. If SAPD had, it might better understand the 119 murders of 2006, the most in 11 years.

One veteran officer offers a blunt view of the failure to track evacuee-related murders.

"I think we didn't want to know," the officer says. "It was going to become a race issue. We didn't want to get involved in those things."

Race did not scare Houston. Police not only connected rising crime to evacuees, the mayor used the link to secure an $18 million Department of Justice grant.

In San Antonio, police brass dismissed the evacuee crime link. But cops on the street who knew better contradicted them: People from over there brought crime over here, no doubt about it.

How much of that crime turned deadly is unclear. The district attorney's office do ented two murders and more than 100 other Katrina-related crimes, but couldn't get a complete accounting.

For unstated reasons, police refused to ask criminal suspects a basic question: Are you an evacuee?

In one case, SAPD discovered the Louisiana roots of one murder suspect by accident. Police noticed that Melvin Davis, accused of killing another evacuee in February, listed a New Orleans address on his Texas driver's license.

Anecdotally, police know of four other homicides connected to Katrina.

In one case, an evacuee from Mississippi was strangled. In three others, evacuee suspects remain at large.

"I'm sure Katrina contributed somewhat to the murder rate," one officer says. "But I'm more concerned about domestic violence murder. That's where the e was."

What the officer doesn't know is how many domestic murders involved evacuees.

No one tracked them, and that's too bad. Domestic slayings surged in one year from nine to 25. Acquaintance murder also soared, from 13 to 31. We'll never know the precise impact evacuees had on '06 homicide developments.

Why is this important?

Houston police used Katrina crime data to shape crime-fighting strategy. Officers targeted hot areas and saw a significant reduction in murders from October through December.

SAPD could learn a lesson from Houston but won't. No one appears to be tracking Katrina crime in '07. It's as if it doesn't exist.

[Extra Stout]

Prior to Katrina, New Orleans had a murder rate something like eight times the national average. So a 30% jump in San Antonio is not surprising.

For once, I am actually thankful for the local gangs here in Houston, because they largely have run the New Orleans animals out of town. For a while, the evacuees were running rampant slaughtering locals, then all of a sudden you noticed it was the evacuees themselves getting killed, then next thing you know the murder rates go back to (relatively) normal in Houston, and New Orleans goes from freakishly low crime to making Baghdad look like Geneva.

[johnsmith]

Prior to Katrina, New Orleans had a murder rate something like eight times the national average. So a 30% jump in San Antonio is not surprising.

For once, I am actually thankful for the local gangs here in Houston, because they largely have run the New Orleans animals out of town. For a while, the evacuees were running rampant slaughtering locals, then all of a sudden you noticed it was the evacuees themselves getting killed, then next thing you know the murder rates go back to (relatively) normal in Houston, and New Orleans goes from freakishly low crime to making Baghdad look like Geneva.

There's the problem, SA gangs are a bunch of pussies.

[Extra Stout]

There's the problem, SA gangs are a bunch of pussies.

Yeah, they like knives, and you know the cliche...

[TDMVPDPOY]

There's the problem, SA gangs are a bunch of pussies.

tim duncan is there leader, on and off the court

[AlamoSpursFan]

In one case, SAPD discovered the Louisiana roots of one murder suspect by accident. Police noticed that Melvin Davis, accused of killing another evacuee in February, listed a New Orleans address on his Texas driver's license.

Huh?

[IX_Equilibrium]

I remember after the refugees got here, the news reported on an increased number of crimes. However, unlike before where they give a description of the perp, race was completely left out. They'd report the crime, talk to an eye witness, and not say a thing about what the perp looked like. The media played a big part in covering an obvious crime wave and the reason behind it.

[exstatic]

I just think it's funny that all of the violence in NO is being reported as if it were something new, a byproduct of Katrina. As ES stated, New Orleans has ALWAYS had a high murder rate. It just that now, because of post-Katrina coverage, the national media is shining a light on it, where in the past, the local yokels covered it up to protect tourism. Not good for convention luring if Joe Tourist strays a couple of blocks off of Bourbon and gets capped.

[01Snake]

I'm leaving on Wednesday for a 3 day meeting there. Fun Fun

[Solid D]

Thanks for posting...
and I'm sort of relieved that you aren't blaming the increased crime on the Ticket 760 Lineup

[johnsmith]

Thanks for posting...
and I'm sort of relieved that you aren't blaming the increased crime on the Ticket 760 Lineup

I don't know how, but I think Vexler really does have a lot to do with the increase in crime.

[Extra Stout]

New Orleans, post-Katrina, has a population of 155,000 or so, and had 161 murders last year. And that is with the vermin not making it back there until mid-year.

That is 1.04 murders per 1,000 residents per year. In other words, if you lived in New Orleans for 50 years, at that rate you would have a 5% chance of being murdered.

San Antonio has 1.2 million people or so, and saw 119 murders last year. That is about 0.10 murders per 1,000 residents, or one-tenth the rate of New Orleans.

To put it further in perspective, Baghdad has about 6 million people. It is in the middle of a sectarian civil war. They are seeing roughly 12,000 murders a year. This works out to 2.0 murders per 1,000 residents per year, or twice the rate of New Orleans.

So, if you hear people saying that Baghdad is safer than New Orleans, they are exaggerating. New Orleans is only half as bad as all-out civil war.

[johnsmith]

So, if you hear people saying that Baghdad is safer than New Orleans, they are exaggerating. New Orleans is only half as bad as all-out civil war.

[IX_Equilibrium]

I do have a question. Have most of the evecuees left San Antonio, or are they still here?

[johnsmith]

I do have a question. Have most of the evecuees left San Antonio, or are they still here?

I saw the stats a while back and it seems many of them stayed here.


By the way, the reason that people commit crimes is because they are just that type of a person, it has nothing to do with how they were raised.

[Melmart1]

If our brilliant mayor went half as hard after New Orleans criminals as he did their football team, none of this would be an issue.

[PM5K]

If our brilliant mayor went half as hard after New Orleans criminals as he did their football team, none of this would be an issue.

Our mayor is like seventy, he doesn't get hard over anything...

[johnsmith]

Didn't Hardberger dump a bunch of money into the police force in SA? He added a bunch of officers as well I believe.

What else would you like him to do?

[Melmart1]

I would like him to stop pretending that the increase in crime isn't at least partially explainable by the refugees. He has been asked this question directly by TV reporters and denied they were responsible. Stop living in fantasy land, Mr. Mayor.

Oh.. and I don't believe that locals should be footing the bill for the increase in crime.

I also believe he doesnt want this to turn into a racial thing, which it surely will if he admits what is already painfully obvious.

[johnsmith]

I would like him to stop pretending that the increase in crime isn't at least partially explainable by the refugees. He has been asked this question directly by TV reporters and denied they were responsible. Stop living in fantasy land, Mr. Mayor.

Oh.. and I don't believe that locals should be footing the bill for the increase in crime.

I also believe he doesnt want this to turn into a racial thing, which it surely will if he admits what is already painfully obvious.

Good answer.

[PM5K]

Melmart for Mayor, big s and a big brain...

[johnsmith]

Melmart for Mayor, big s and a big brain...

Yeah, but then you'd have a woman mayor.




I'll stick with just appreciating giant jugs.

[PM5K]

Yeah, but then you'd have a woman mayor.




I'll stick with just appreciating giant jugs.

What's the difference between a mayor so old he can't get it up and a woman?

[johnsmith]

What's the difference between a mayor so old he can't get it up and a woman?

Good point.

[Clandestino]

So, if you hear people saying that Baghdad is safer than New Orleans, they are exaggerating. New Orleans is only half as bad as all-out civil war.

Top 5 post of all time.