blogHOUSTON reader Vernon Guy passes on this Time magazine story entitled, “What Happened To The Gangs of New Orleans? Before Katrina, New Orleans had a murder rate 10 times worse than the U.S. average. The killers evacuated too. Tracing the criminal exodus.”
Here’s an interesting excerpt:
In January, Houston police officers held a press conference and promised to introduce the evacuees to “Texas law.” They arrested eight New Orleanians suspected in 11 murders in the Houston area. The department spent $6.5 million on overtime.
But when police interviewed the suspects, they suddenly understood why New Orleans was so violent. No matter what police said, they couldn’t get the suspects to talk. They had no leverage because no one took their threats seriously. It was a logical response: in New Orleans, 93% of people arrested from 2003 to 2004 never went to prison. “It was a real eye-opening experience,” says Sergeant Harris. “People born and raised in Houston seem to have an understanding of consequences, of punishment. You can show them the options, and they start thinking, Wow, maybe I should start cooperating.” With New Orleans evacuees, Sergeant Harris says, “there is no baseline. They have no concept of consequence.”
It was the first time the Houston police had heard the phrase “60-day homicide.” Suspects would say, “This ain’t nothing but a 60-day homicide,” meaning that if they kept quiet for 60 days, they would walk–just as they had too often in New Orleans. So Houston police started letting evacuees spend a few days in jail before questioning them in depth. While they waited, the suspects talked with other inmates and had court appearances–which did not end with release. Eventually, for some, the reality of Texas law began to sink in. “As they stay here more, they seem to talk more,” Sergeant Harris says.
That bolded part is outstanding (but please don’t tell the ACLU or the Chron‘s editorial board).
