The Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles reports that city officials are saying that Houston has not seen a spike in crime as a result of the influx of evacuees:
Dealing with the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees has been expensive — more than $1 million in police overtime alone — but hasn’t caused spikes in local crime or illness, top public safety officials said Monday.
Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt and Fire Chief Phil Boriskie told the City Council’s Public Safety Committee that they have had to provide extra staffing to deal with shelter security and emergency calls.
For Hurtt, that meant spending about $150,000 to $200,000 a day more than usual since the storm struck 350 miles to the east Aug. 29.
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Tom Costello, a coordinating officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the committee the city’s extra public safety costs are 100 percent reimbursable.
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Costello’s statement is confirmed in a FEMA memo obtained by the Chronicle that lists the numerous expenditures eligible for reimbursement. Among them are shelter security, operating costs and overtime.
Hurtt said that in the past 11 days, his officers have arrested 105 people from Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana, but that overall crime rates have not increased. He doesn’t expect that to change.
“I don’t foresee, at this time, that there’s going to be any significant increase in serious crime,” he said.
It does remain a concern, given HPD’s manpower shortage and the greater number of people now in town.
