Jennifer Friedberg’s recent article for a Chronicle neighborhood section was inadvertently amusing for its recap of MayorWhiteChiefHurtt’s various crimefighting-by-acronym initiatives:
The first phase of STOP began in early June and lasted about eight days. Uniformed overtime officers were in marked vehicles, patrolling the streets.
Phase two is now under way. Overtime officers patrol hot spots and run warrants on suspects.
During a journey through some of the more dangerous apartment complexes in the area earlier this month, officer Edgar DeJesus of the Fondren Patrol Division said he has noticed the streets have been quieter since the programs started.
“It’s zero tolerance to let people know we’re out there and we’re not going away,” he said.
The problem, DeJesus said, is the programs are not a long-term solution.
“Once you clean up one side, they go to the next one,” he said. “They just go elsewhere to do whatever mischief they’re going to do and come back home.”
The other three overtime programs that began earlier this year are the Crime Reduction Initiative, where uniformed and undercover personnel patrol the southwest corridor; a Neighborhood Enforcement Team Task Force, where patrol divisions deployed personnel to respond to calls for service; and a Unified Neighborhood Enforcement Team Task Force, where tactical teams worked with investigative personnel such as the homicide and robbery units.
The initiatives don’t have an end date, Cannon said. HPD recently received $18 million in federal funding that will help pay for the overtime.
Let’s not leave out the Fear Reduction Initiative or the Crime Van.
If MayorWhiteChiefHurtt don’t exactly have the city’s bad guys on the run with the acronyms, just wait till they break out Hooked on Phonics for the next wave of crimefighting!
