A man goes missing on Monday. The family files a missing person complaint with HPD that day.
Tuesday night, Precinct 5 constables find the vehicle in an apartment complex. There are two juveniles inside, the car smells of marijuana, and it turns out one of them is wanted on an outstanding felony warrant. HPD is alerted, because of the missing persons report. The professional law officers of Precinct 5 and HPD spring into action, concerned that the vehicle’s owner might have been kidnapped and/or murdered.
Well, actually, no, they didn’t. In a story that’s weak on chronological narrative (so I’ll spare you most of the meandering), the Chronicle reports that Precinct 5 arrested one of them on the felony warrant, then asked HPD if it wanted to interview either juvenile that night. HPD said they’d get to it later. Neither suspect will say how they came to be in the car of a missing man. Precinct 5 apparently couldn’t figure out what to do, so they called the man’s wife at the apartment to see if she knew them. Of course she didn’t — meaning that the second teen is probably guilty of trespass of a vehicle. (Didn’t some woman get tasered on camera for that recently?)
So what do the bright boys of Precinct 5 do? They release the boy, then decide to leave the car for the missing man’s wife to drive home — over her protests. Fortunately, Precinct 5 Captain Michael Coleman had a series of explanations for why his men will not be starring in the next episode of CSI.
About releasing the second teen:
“There was no report of a stolen car,” Coleman said. “It was a missing-persons case at that point. We had nothing to charge him with.” … Police know where to find the juvenile who was let go, he said.
About the car:
“HPD didn’t want to put a hold on the car, so we didn’t.”
But have no fear, HPD is now on the case:
Officer Gabe Ortiz, an HPD spokesman, said today that a missing-persons case investigator was expected to interview the one youth still in custody at the Harris County Jail today and talk to other witnesses as well.
“They’re still following up on it,” Ortiz said.
In other words, it’s still a routine missing persons case. Granted, even I wouldn’t report it as a murder (where’s the body?), but there’s obviously no sense of urgency. Of course, if a body is ever found, no evidence from the vehicle will be admissible. Three words: “chain of custody.” CSI, these guys aren’t. (Insert your own snarky comment about the HPD lab and/or Safe Clear here…)
Chief Hurtt’s probably checking the feed from those red-light cameras right now. I feel so much better, knowing that we can count on the fine professionals at the constable’s offices to pick up the slack for our undermanned (and unable-to-count) Houston Police Department.
UPDATE: Please see this post.
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