Gang activity in Houston is a problem that keeps law enforcement agencies looking for ways to stay ahead and eradicate it.

Carlos Barron is with the FBI:

“The problem is here. Gangs are a problem, and they’re here in Houston. As the chief said, we have over 150 identified gangs. We have over 15,000 identified gang members. This is a serious problem in Houston.”

A new anti-gang tactical operations center has been created to bring the fight to another level.

The Harris County DA’s office secured a $1.7 million grant from the state to fund, establish and equip the center located on the city’s north side.

“What it is, it’s strategic in nature, I think, as opposed to tactical. Strategic in the sense that we bring everybody together that’s now in separate areas of the city. We focus on what we’ve identified, through an intelligence led policing to be our highest gangs, or most dangerous gangs, the gangs the pose the biggest threat, and we go after them deliberately. As opposed to reacting to different gangs or different events. We’re being proactive.”

He says things that attract people to Houston also sometimes attract gang activity. Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia calls it the scourge in our community.

“They have expanded to robbing stores, robbing banks. One of my deputies was shot as he intervened and disrupted a bank robbery. So, these gangsters are public enemy number one threat to our society. And that’s why we have to do everything possible to bring all these resources together, so that we can focus intensively on those creating the greatest damage in our society.”

Garcia, a former Houston police officer, says the city’s focus on gang activity has come a long way. The center will serve as the base for some of the region’s most knowledgeable and experienced federal, state and local anti-gang investigators, analysts and prosecutors.

“Back when I was the director of the city’s anti-gang office, we were taking the gang enforcement units off of gangs, and putting them into the call for service loop. What we’re creating today is what I did for the Houston Police Department, but now we’re doing it on a regional level. So the need to have an infrastructure, and the need to always look for improvement on how you share information is a daily mandate that we have to continue to achieve.”

Garcia says there’s no reason why gangs should have any influence or impact on the community, and it’s the job of the center to dismantle and disrupt them.

Leaders in the project include Michael McDaniel, director of the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area; Pat Lykos, Harris County district attorney; Duane Steen with the Texas Department of Public Safety; Thomas Hinojosa with the Drug Enforcement Administration; Assistant Chief John Trevion, Houston Police Department; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Carlos Barron, FBI; and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

The unprecedented initiative was conceptualized by the HIDTA board and became reality with Lykos securing a $1.7 million dollar grant to fund, establish and equip a preeminent Texas Anti-Gang Tactical Operations Center.

Once completed, TAG will serve as a central headquarters for an estimated 75-100 of the regions’ most knowledgeable and experienced federal, state and local anti-gang investigators, analysts and prosecutors.

TAG’s physical and personnel structure, as well as its technological capabilities, will make it a unique law enforcement initiative, devoted to fighting violent, transnational criminal organizations and the street gangs with which they are increasingly allied.

The Houston HIDTA region includes 17 counties and encompasses over 14,900 square miles within the state of Texas. It includes all but six of the counties along the Texas coastline. The total population of the HIDTA exceeds six million people, nearly one quarter of the population of the entire state.

The donation, valued at approximately $10,000, will be the foundation’s first to the HCSO.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded and financed by a group of concerned citizens with the goal of assisting the men and women of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in carrying out their law enforcement mandates in the safest and most efficient manner.

The Foundation’s goals are many, from fulfilling the most urgent needs, such as providing lifesaving equipment (bulletproof vests, helmets, etc.) to the more complicated and long term.

HCSO Reserve deputies have the same training, legal authority and responsibilities as full-time deputies except that they volunteer their services without pay. Reserve deputies work in all areas of the HCSO, including Patrol, Criminal Warrants, Fugitive Transports, Tactical Medicine and Marine Patrol.

The event will honor fallen HCSO deputies and deputies from all eight Harris County Constable Precincts.

Since 1895, 39 HCSO deputies and detention officers have died in the line of duty while the Constable offices combined have lost 17.

Project SAFE stands for “Substance and Alcohol Free Events.” Project Safe collaborates with non-profits and law enforcement to remind students, teachers, and parents that a successful prom season puts safety first. Part of the educational outreach includes anti-drinking and anti-DWI information.

This second annual campaign is championed by Sheriff Adrian Garcia and all Spring Branch-area law enforcement, including the Memorial Villages, Spring Valley, and Spring Branch ISD police departments. Crime Stoppers hosted the kick-off press conference and highlighted the multi-agency collaboration.

Statistics
The unfortunate reality is that the laws prohibiting drinking by persons under 21 are simply not sufficient to curtail student alcohol use. Consider the following:

• 1.2 million teenagers drink alcohol every year;
• 92 percent of teenagers report that they rode at least once with a driver that had been drinking; and
• 12 percent of teenagers confess that they drove a car at least once after drinking.

Then, consider the unfortunate and sometimes tragic consequences of this activity:

• In 2009, 210 traffic fatalities in which underage drinking and driving were a factor occurred; and
• 5,472 nonfatal traffic accidents were associated with underage drinking.

These statistics do not document the poor judgment decisions made by teens under the influence of alcohol. Decreased and impaired judgment result in risky decision-making about sexual conduct and other critical issues.

Recommendations
It is no longer sufficient to tell students “Just Don’t Drink.” Peer pressure and cultural influences deem alcohol a component of so many celebrations in our society. It is not a surprise that students view drinking as a part of prom. Even parents may overlook prom-time alcohol intake as a coming-of-age ritual.

To reduce the impact of peer or cultural pressure to drink, talk with your prom-age teens. You could explain the potential for tragedy and traffic fatalities, which teens expect to hear. However, teens may feel immune from these warnings, thinking, “It won’t happen to me.”

Instead, talk with teens about the far more likely consequences of teen alcohol use. Even possession of alcohol is against the law for a person under age 21. Mere possession can result in a Class C misdemeanor charge.

More than a typical Class C misdemeanor traffic ticket, which is generally viewed as an annoyance, Possession of Alcohol by a Minor carries certain mandatory penalties upon conviction. In addition to a fine, community service must be performed. No less than eight hours are required upon the first offense. Remind teens that they will spend at least one Saturday performing community service if they possess alcohol and are ticketed for it.

In addition, a minor convicted of possession of alcohol will lose their license to drive. This penalty takes effect 11 days after the conviction. The teen will lose their privilege to drive for 30 days, and in some cases, even longer.

Penalties for Adults
For parents who may feel pressure to host parties after prom, or supply alcohol in a limo for students who won’t be driving, think twice. There are criminal penalties associated with providing alcohol to minors.

For an adult, it is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail to provide alcohol to a minor. The statute specifies that an adult can be charged in the following situations:

• for purchasing alcohol for a minor;
• for giving alcohol to a minor;
• for making alcohol available to a minor with criminal negligence.

There are no exceptions for prom season. Providing alcohol to a minor under age 21 is against the law. Further, these criminal penalties do not encompass the potential civil liabilities when a tragedy results.

This prom season, talk to kids before they act. Remind them of Project SAFE’s message: that proms need not be celebrated with alcohol, and that the consequences are more than cursory. Sans alcohol, our prom season will be a safe celebration by and for our kids as they near graduation and move toward adulthood.

The 161 felons were wanted for crimes against kids. Nearly fifty of them were fugitives for sexual assault of children. Another 40 were running from the law after being convicted of indecency with a child. FOX 26 is looking out for children in peril and putting parents, not predators, in control.

“We will go after you. We will smash your door down. We will grab you out of bed. We will put you in jail and we will ruin your day,” proclaims Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

That’s exactly what area law officers did to the nearly 200 child predators as part of a Houston Crime Stoppers “Safe Child” Initiative.

“We’ve got plenty of room at the Harris County Jail and we will accommodate you,” says Sheriff Garcia but remember there are plenty of predators still on the street.

That’s all Sgt. Gary Spurger and his team with Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct-4 Cyber Crimes Unit does every day. They track down predators trading child pornography on-line.

“We’ll actually then obtain a search warrant for the individual’s residence and make a very early wake up call,” says Spurger.

After a warrant round-up Spurger went back to the office, went on-line and showed FOX 26 how, as we spoke, four more people right here in Houston appeared to be on-line sharing child-pornography.

“This doesn’t ever stop,” says Spurger.

Spurger reminds us, it was in the Houston area where Continental Airlines pilot Todd Ewanko was arrested and busted with 24 million child porn images. He says that’s the most of any suspect, ever, in the world.

“If we were to print out every picture this guy had on an 8×11 piece of paper, that would fill 1,100 F150 pick up trucks,” says Spurger.

It was also here where Spurger says Anthony Oshea convinced an 11-year-old girl to send a nude picture of herself using a PS3 game console.

“People will say where were the parents? Believe it or not the mother is an IT professional. Dad works in computers. They played games with her (their daughter) every night. They were downstairs making dinner when it occurred. It only took 5 minutes,” says Spurger.

Spurger says parents usually ask plenty of questions to keep kids safe when they’re going somewhere, just not when they’re going on-line.

“We fail to ask those questions in the internet age. We don’t ask what websites are you going to? Who are you going with? What are you doing on those websites and when are you going to get done on the computer? Come back,” says Spurger.

In addition to asking questions and regularly checking your child’s computer, Sgt. Spurger says if you suspect an adult is targeting your child on-line do something about it. You can report cyber abuse of children to Houston Crime Stoppers at (713) 22-TIPS or go to www.cybertipline.com.

It’s a staggering duty on the best of days. When the incumbent took over four years ago, he faced a particularly daunting job. The sheriff’s office had been plagued by a series of controversies ranging from federal investigation of prisoner deaths in Harris County jails to legal battles about unjustified arrests. Newly elected Sheriff Adrian Garcia had his work cut out for him.

Since then, he has done an impressive job and again deserves to be the Democratic Party’s candidate for sheriff.

In his four years as sheriff, Garcia has guided the office through a hiring freeze with a steady hand and an eye fixed on solutions.

Much-needed reforms at the jail, such as outfitting nonviolent offenders with ankle monitors in lieu of incarceration, and allowing early release for nonviolent offenders in work or education programs, have helped reduce the jail population while also letting prisoners maintain or establish positions as functioning members of society.

Under Garcia’s leadership, Harris County has also ended the expensive practice of outsourcing prisoners to other counties and states.

Garcia helped trim his budget by hiring new county jailers. While it may seem counterintuitive, hiring new employees instead of paying overtime has resulted in a more cost-effective jail system. The sheriff pushed the Harris County Commissioners Court to implement this plan, and it has paid off.

At the same time, Garcia has worked to improve employee morale, creating an internal council where employee representatives can meet to express and discuss concerns from the 3,500 employees in the sheriff’s office.

In the past four years, Harris County has seen a once troubled office now set on the right track. Voters in the Democratic primary should back Sheriff Garcia.

In Carl Pittman, Republican Party primary voters have a candidate with the insight that comes from years of experience in law enforcement. Pittman’s resume includes stints on the National City Police Department in San Diego County, Calif., where he worked on a federal gangs task force, and more than 10 years as a deputy in the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

During a meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, Pittman reiterated a commitment to public safety while keeping an eye on the bottom line, advocating zero-based budgeting should he get the job.

He would apply zero-based budgeting to the jails as well, and his experience within the Harris County Detention Bureau has given him key insights into some of the most expensive, and often controversial, duties of the sheriff’s office.

“All three [county] jails are basically run as maximum-security jails,” Pittman told the Chronicle. “It doesn’t make sense to me, because it costs more.”

This openness to reform would continue a trend that has benefited the county and state as a whole.

With his collection of law enforcement credentials and his belief that he can pull Democratic votes in the general election, Pittman deserves to be the Republican candidate in the fall.

We encourage primary voters to give him their support.

Inspectors announced the result of the annual inspection today with high compliments for Sheriff Adrian Garcia and jail operations run by numerous staff members under his command.

“Harris County has come a long way,” Commission Director Adan Muñoz said, addressing Sheriff Garcia and a few dozen staffers at a jail building. “Sheriff, your leadership is obviously inspiring to the people who run this operation.”

“We saw some improvement this year, but we didn’t see a lot of improvement because you all were doing a good job already,” Assistant Director Shannon Herklotz said.

Sheriff Garcia thanked his staff for working to keep the jail system – the state’s largest, and the nation’s third largest – in compliance with standards.

“Our goal is to always exceed the expectations of the state of Texas,” the sheriff said. “We have always been in pursuit of being the model, not just for Texas, but nationally.”

The jail was found out of compliance in 2006 and four months after Sheriff Garcia took office in 2009. Remedial action subsequently removed the non-compliance findings in those instances.

Annual inspections cover inmate housing accommodations, holding cells, medical services, food, fire and life safety, sanitation, grievance systems, telephone access, visitation, exercise, religious practices and other aspects.

The population of the Harris County Jail is about 8,800 inmates, down from a peak of more than 12,000 about five years ago.

Six dogs donated by K9s4Cops are making their debut Friday afternoon. Sheriff Adrian Garcia will accept the donation in a 2 p.m. ceremony at Bayou Landing, in front of the jail at 701 N. San Jacinto.

This latest donation brings to 10 the number of dogs donated by K9s4Cops to the sheriff’s office and to 20 the number of dogs in HCSO’s K-9 Unit.

The mission of K9s4Cops, which was founded in 2010 in Houston, is to ensure that every law enforcement officer who needs a canine assistant has one trained and ready for action, according to the nonprofit’s website.

In February, two K-9 deputies with HCSO, Kanau and Elmo, retired after five years of service due to age and health problems. Both worked with the narcotics division.

During his career, Kanau identified 1,700 pounds of marijuana, 50 kilos of cocaine and 2.6 pounds of methamphetamine along with $630,000 in illicit cash. Elmo helped seize 12,000 pounds of marijuana, 350 kilos of cocaine and more than $5 million in cash, among other feats, sheriff’s officials said.

In October, the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, started by the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, donated $9,000 to the HCSO K-9 unit. The newest K9 deputies are Bailey, Bret, Jack, Joey, Tommy and Sjors.

He addressed the greater Houston Partnership at the Federal Reserve Bank on Allen Parkway. He was here to talk primarily about business, but Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia says he managed to ask Calderon about the drug cartel violence in Mexico.

“My only comment to him was I hope his successor may have a continued commitment to lifting the country out of the grips of the cartels,” he said.

The President’s primary business in Houston was business. Mexico is Houston’s largest trading partner. According the Greater Houston Partnership, 2011 trade with Mexico amounted to $31 billion. Mayor Parker says during the President’s visit to City Hall the Mexican ambassador encouraged the city to send a trade mission.

She says, “My take away is we have an excellent working relationship with Mexico. We have good lines of communication in place and the President just reaffirmed that.”

Some protesters gathered outside several of the closed to the public meetings. Demonstrators criticized Calderon for the handling of the bloody war on the cartels, the high unemployment rate and a proposed changed to the Mexican constitution.

The President was also scheduled to speak at The Baker Institute and Rice University and Ripley House.