Law enforcement agencies say they are getting better at working together

The Houston Chronicle—December 6th, 2011

Long-standing turf wars stemming from the Katy area’s unusual three-county location have begun to ease, and the public should expect less confusion when they call for assistance, law enforcement officials told a recent Town Hall gathering at the Merrell Center.

“Multi-jurisdictional concerns” were a central topic at the Nov. 15 meeting, convened by Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and attended by representatives from Harris, Fort Bend and Waller counties, the Katy Independent School District and the city of Katy.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what you’re witnessing tonight is really a milestone,” Katy Police Chief Bill Hastings said, when it was his turn to address the gathering. “It wasn’t very many years ago that Katy never would have hosted a meeting with this many governmental agencies. Everything was ‘This is mine; this is your little piece over here.’ ”

And citizens were confused about whom to call in an area with so many different governments involved, he said.

“Twenty-five years ago, there wasn’t this kind of cooperation,” agreed Chief Deputy Terry Thurman of the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office. “Now we can’t do without each other.”

The few Katy-area residents who attended the town hall meeting did not paint as positive a picture of inter-jurisdictional coordination, however.

Kim Horton, from the Williamsburg Parish neighborhood, said there is still a “very big problem.” She related a recent incident in which there was confusion between Harris County and the Houston Police Department over who would respond. It took the Houston police more than an hour to arrive, she said.

Horton also asked that Katy ISD do more to discourage students from texting while driving.

Oak Ridge Park resident Laura Haugvoll also described a “flaw in the system,” saying Harris County did not promptly follow up on “eye-witness” information about suspected juvenile auto thieves.

Harris County officials said they would look into the complaints. No HPD representative spoke at the town hall meeting.

Officials acknowledged it is still confusing, with many residents finding out which jurisdiction they live in only after an emergency occurs. One side of busy Mason Road is in the city limits of Houston, for example, while the other is unincorporated Harris County. One side of Katy Fort Bend Road is patrolled by the city of Katy, while the other is Harris County’s bailiwick.

Law enforcement officials meet regularly, to discuss mutual issues and crime trends, said Capt. Lanny Hitchcock of HCSO’s western Patrol District 4.

This cooperation is even more important as budget cuts affect most jurisdictions, officials said. For example, District 4 has gone from a high of 175 patrol deputies to a low of 151 and is now back up to 159, including contract officers, Hitchcock said.

Response time for emergency calls has gone up three seconds, from 4 minutes, 37 seconds in 2010 to 4 minutes, 40 seconds in 2011, he said. By contrast, average response times for non-emergency calls have gone up by a minute to a minute and a half, he said.

“If the crime is done and over with, it’s going to take us a little while longer,” he said.

Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, by contrast, didn’t lose any patrol slots, but is stretched thin, covering a fast-growing territory with the same 130 deputies, said Scott Sullivan of the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office.

“The Cinco Ranch area is becoming our heaviest crime area,” he said.

As for crime rates, burglary of motor vehicles is a hot spot, officers agree.

Sullivan said “victim assisted crimes” can be prevented if holiday shoppers make sure they don’t leave their purses or packages in plain sight in their vehicles.

“The thieves in our community are bargain shoppers. They’re going to look for the easiest, fastest thing they can get. Eliminating that temptation does go a long way,” Garcia said.

In a snapshot on recent Katy-area crime in Harris County, officials said violent crimes are up about 7 percent in the fall, as compared to the summer, with a particular spike in aggravated assault.

Nonviolent crimes are down about 6 percent for the same three month-period.

Law enforcement officials had a few other suggestions for residents of the area:

When making a 911 call on a cell phone, callers should be aware of the county in which they live, or streets and other landmarks of their location. Because of the way cell phones operate, the dispatcher may not know which county the call is coming from, without those details.

Drivers need to know the rules about stopping for school buses loading or unloading said Katy ISD Police Chief Mark Hopkins Although there have been no recent accidents, he mentioned one North Fry Road bus stop where officers observed 50 violations in three days.

Drivers in both directions must stop anytime school bus lights are flashing, he said. The only exception is when there is a “physical barrier” such as a grassy median or barricade between the driver and the school bus on the opposite side of the road. An open central turn lane does not count as a physical barrier, he said.