The Editorial LiveJournalists have discovered that violent crime is threatening Houston:
In 1958, Houston had the nation’s highest murder rate, with 15 homicides per 100,000 residents. In 1981, after Houston tallied more than 700 homicides, the city was dubbed murder capital of the United States. After years of diminishing crime rates, the number of violent crimes in the city again is ticking upward. This time, Houstonians must act to head off the next bloody crime wave before it crashes over us.
It would have been nice if Houston’s only major daily had been out in front of this one a little earlier. HPD’s manpower shortage is not new to anyone who’s been paying attention. Still, better late than never we suppose.
We can’t help but be amused at this language:
Hurtt said he is working with City Council to compel landlords whose apartment complexes are magnets for bad actors to hire police officers to provide security or to pay fees to cover additional police protection. That is a good idea. Most of the homicides that occurred during the last four months of 2005 took place at apartment complexes, though this type of housing constitutes only half of the city’s dwellings. Apartment managers should be required to provide adequate lighting and evict bad actors.
Bad actors? Goodness, the Editorial LiveJournalists really do seem out of touch much of the time.
