WHO'S GOING TO CLEAR UP THE 1.1 MILLION ACTIVE WARRANTS IN THE CITY OF HOUSTON?
It was earlier this year when FOX 26 news first broke the news that HPD's Marshal's Unit was being dissolved. It's a group of officers who have provided security for the city's Municipal Court system and gone after suspects wanted on warrants. HPD decided the 70 or so officers could be better used on the streets rather than courthouse security. The officers have fought tooth and nail to keep their assignment. They say there are 1.1 million active warrants (Municipal Court Records) currently in the city of Houston and if they don't go after the suspects then who will. So The Insite decided to take this information to HPD Assistant Chief Vickie King. She was very blunt and open with her feelings about this unit in HPD. She told The Insite there are some officers in the Marshal's Unit who simply don't won't to give up their sweet gig of sitting around the courthouse everyday. She said this was about public safety and utilizing all of HPD's resources. When I told her about the 35,000 arrests from warrants the unit made in 2007, she said the Marshal's have been playing games with the numbers. She said they hadn't made that many arrests. King says the marshals would go to Harris County jail and arrest those who were being released that may still be wanted by the city and count them as warrants cleared. King says she's working patiently to get the cops into other positions in the department but there are some who still want to fight to stay in the unit that is being disbanded. Meanwhile, King said Houstonians have nothing to worry about because officers on the streets will clear the 1.1 million active warrants out there. She said cops on patrol are responsible for 99.9% of the warrants being clear in the city anyway not the Marshal's Unit. I told her with all due respect it felt as if there was some infighting going on between department brass and the Marshal's Unit. She went on to say at the end of the day it's all about public safety!
video report: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6783042&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1
13 comments:
The warrants "cleared" usually mean they confirm the warrants. Usually they have been arrested for other crimes by other officers. So, it's not like these officers went and knocked on 35,000 doors looking for fugitives.
"When I told her about the 35,000 arrests from warrants the unit made in 2007, she said the Marshal's have been playing games with the numbers."
The biggest piece of news in the whole story is an admission by a high ranking HPD official that there is cooking of the numbers at HPD.
More playing with the numbers. I really hate how they all ways say its in the "name of public safety" when its really about dollars and cents and moving beans from one side of the plate to the other. With 1.1 million warrants obviously the city is missing out on that valuable revenue from fines.
My advise to HPD is STOP CREATING DEPARTMENTS YOU DON'T HAVE A DEFINITE PLAN FOR THEIR FUTURES.
First its the Airport
then it was moving from civilian jailers back to uniformed jailers and now disbanding a dept. Obviously its a department in dis array.
Kudos to King for telling the brutal truth. Most any HPD officer will tell you that the Marshall's Division is just one of those that have "always been there" but dont serve any real function anymore like they used to decades ago.
Vicky King is a MASTER manipulator. She has found ways to twist the system for her own personal advancement her whole career. She is attempting to find a way to "pad" the numbers for the chief to it looks like there is less of a police shortage in the public's eye. Ask any officer and they'll tell you how this is only a "CON-Game" for her to make Exec. Asst. Chief. Those are the facts!
The Marshall's Division is a joke even among officers in HPD. The officers in that division are considered lazy and are not highly respected by their peers. Yes they clear up a lot of warrants, but most of those are from people who turn themselves in or come to court without first clearing up prior warrants. They take credit for these in their stats. Most of the warrants cleared in the city are from the hardworking officers on the street.
I like to see all this infighting in hpd, these anonymous people are police employees and they don't even respect each other. why would you expect them to respect the public they serve. this is way they (police) are constantly being sued by the public and there own employees. this is not different then upper management cooking the books on homicides , burglary, rapes ect. show the chief and mayor can pat them self on the back to the public
All I know, is I left patrol to find an easy gig at the Marshal's, or so I heard. When I got there, they stuck me on the streets, made me write tickets, when I wasn't busy arresting someone. Plus, I had to check for suspended d.l.'s and file charges every time I had one (which was about every other traffic stop in my assigned area). As soon as my 2 years were up, I bee-lined back to patrol, where I could run a few 911 hang up calls and wave at a few citizens, and not work so hard (plus get good evaluations). I'll bet these Marshal officers have forgotten how easy it is in patrol. When they get there, they'll be thanking AC King. Oh, by the way, she's the only AC with a sustained un-truthfulness in her file, so why is she talking about them playing with the numbers.
The majority of the 68 officers in the Marshal Division are being moved to traffic enforcement. Only 15 officers from the division are being moved to patrol stations.It is not about public safety it is about getting more money from the public thru tickets. If it was about public safety and making the public feel safe they would not have bought all these police vehicles that you are unable to see the word" HOUSTON POLICE" on the car. It is so the marked unit can be stealthy for more tickets. I bet those numbers she said are being played with were still being reported to her boss to make her look good.Why was no IAD investigation be lauched I'll tell you why,because she has a sustained untruthfullnes complaint in her personnel file thats why .
The Chief came out today announcing the ranks passing the 5,000 mark for the first time in years. As I mentioned previously A.C. King cooked the books to help put the numbers there. We knew a "scheme" was in the works and here it is. What a good lil woman she is.
I wonder which statement is untruthful this time?: When she told the Marshal Division in person what a good job they've done or when she went on television and said they weren't productive? But, what do you expect from a woman who went to their Christmas party to tell them to find new jobs. Unproductive divisions do not receive millions of dollars in federal funding funding. If the Marshal Division was so wrong, why did their money and their MARS overtime program get stolen, renamed DTEP, and given to the Traffic Enforcement Division? The only book-cooking I see is a personal attack by King herself. First, cut the legs out from under the division by shutting down funding and personnel transfers into the division, and then run to the Chief with the reduced numbers.
Speaking of those new cars with the ghost graphics, they were supposed to be used to tackle road rage. Anyone wonder why that came to a quick end?? Because there's no money in it. Now they are all sitting around writing speeding tickets to the same people who are getting burglarized, assaulted, and held up. King's idea of public safety is all about the new monies you can stuff into your pockets instead of putting those evading the law behind bars.
These so called "officers" who want to stay in their nice safe job will lie about anything to maintain the status quo. I checked with HPD sources in the know and they confirmed that Marshals are riding the coat tails and claiming arrests by other officers. These guys even lied about King's "untruthfulness." We checked her records and it does not exist.
Why don't you perform an open records request yourself and quit hiding behind a statement like "sources in the know." There is no lie when you count stats for prisoners transported from other units as such on your data collection forms.
You're not interested in number though, are you? If you were you would have known that out of the 68 officers, only 17 are required to man the building for all three shifts combined. The rest are out working the streets where I can assure you it's not "nice" and "safe."
Tell King to give you a fresh script next time.
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