Last night, KHOU-11’s Mark Greenblatt continued his reporting on HPD’s recent difficulties in reporting crimes accurately. To recap the earlier stories:
In the last year, the 11 News Defenders have uncovered crime after crime that Houston police simply never reported, leaving them off annual crime counts.
We found them claiming an amazing “zero” embezzlements; having not one, not two, but four different totals for the amount of DWIs; and leaving at least 16 murders out of reports to the state and federal government — often leaving their investigation and grieving loved ones in limbo.
The problem has drawn the attention of two area members of Congress, Ted Poe and John Culberson, both of whom are interviewed by Greenblatt. Neither is complimentary of the city’s handling of this scandal.
Mayor White, who really doesn’t like criticism, wants no part of an independent audit (or, seemingly, Greenblatt’s questions):
The Texas Department of Public Safety is the FBI’s partner agency watching over Texas’ crime statistics, and they said they’d be glad to do a full audit of HPD’s figures.
The problem?
Houston’s leaders need to ask for one.
It is something Mayor Bill White doesn’t want to do.
11 News: Why not ask DPS to come in and do this audit?
Mayor White: I would prefer to have the internal controls and procedures that we think are sufficient that work and have more DPS people come and help us find criminals.
11 News: Why not put this to bed for good and get the most comprehensive audit that’s being offered, if you ask, by DPS?
White: Well I think some of the things we’ve done internally to check the numbers are very comprehensive, and you think by asking the same question time and time again you’re going to get me to say something different?
Snippy, snippy!
Of course, that strategy of comprehensive internal checks of the crime lab some years ago worked out really well. For a while. Until the city had to spend millions of dollars to hire an independent auditor to tell them everything that was wrong.
Mayor White’s bumbling police chief apparently wanted no part of Greenblatt’s questions:
The Houston Police Department, via a statement, said that it would welcome an audit of its crime stats from “any authorized outside agency.” Still, Police Chief Harold Hurtt declined an 11 News request for an interview for this story.
Way to reassure the public, Chief! That’s some leadership. If he keeps practicing hiding under a table when reporters are asking questions, maybe one day he too can run for District Attorney!
It’s good to see Greenblatt continuing to push this important story forward. Citizens need to be able to trust the crime statistics being reported by their local government.
