Houston Mayor: Katrina Evacuees increased murders

[Herman Munster]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070101/ap_on_re_us/houston_murders

HOUSTON - The number of murders last year in Houston hit a 12-year high and increased by 13.5 percent over 2005, figures the mayor attributes in part to the arrival of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.

Houston had 379 homicides in 2006. That was the most since 1994, when 419 murders were reported, police said. In 2005, the city had 334 homicides.

Mayor Bill White pointed to Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans as one reason for the increase.

"We did have a surge in population from a city where the homicide rate is eight times the national average," White said.

Houston's population increased by 148,000 people in 2006, many of them Katrina evacuees, according to the city's planning department.

The swelling population helped keep Houston's homicide rate relatively steady, rising from 16.33 victims per 100,000 residents in 2005 to 17.24 victims in 2006. Nationally, the murder rate increased by 1.4 percent last year, according to FBI figures.

Some experts disagreed with White's characterization, pointing to national trends indicating rising rates of violent crime.

"It's not as if Houston's unique," said Jim Lynch, a criminology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "There are other cities experiencing this."

[pitohui]

1. yeah well houston opportunists increased murders here

houston has no place to stand there and pretend to be all moral, some of our worst murder and crime rampages were committed by houston opportunists who came here to take advantage of us when we were on our backs

john lee cheek anyone?

it's a shame that shitheads look at a natural disaster as a chance to get away w. murder and rampage but there it is, all such shitheads should be prosecuted and removed from decent society, but the ultimate story will show that many of these shitheads came from elsewhere to prey on us

and sure there were shitheads in new orleans most of whom washed up in texas

it doesn't mean most or all katrina evacuees are in this category or that most or all people who come here to work or "just to see" are in this category

there is a minority of the human population that feels free to let their worst impulses reign in situations where they think they'll get away with it

[sandnsea]

2. 350-400 murders a year

Is a problem regardless of Katrina evacuees. If they went from 0 to 40, they might have a complaint. Maybe Houston should fix their own problems before they start bitching about Katrina survivors.

[uppityperson]

3. Last line there and the word "surge" makes me think of Baghdad.

[marshall]

4. It was the talk of TLA last spring

The Texas Library Association held its meeting in Houston last spring, and the impact of Katrina evacuees on Houston area schools was the major topic of conversation amongst the school librarians. I don't know what to make of it since I don't live in Houston and I'm not a school librarian, but it is something that has been tossed around for the past year, and not just by the mayor.