Crime in Kingwood: Houston, We Have A Problem...Feb 3rd, 2014Intro: Annexation of Kingwood by the City of Houston shouldn't mean we are left vulnerable to a spate of robberies, and be forced to make due with an underfunded, understaffed police department. Kingwood is an affluent town, and we pay a lot of tax money into the system, and I think we deserve better.Although the Houston Police Department has publicly assured us that there is no crime spree going on in Kingwood, common sense tells us that something unusual is going on. The recent Feb. 2nd standoff between a robbery suspect and a S.W.A.T team (
www.kingwood.com/mes sage_board/view_mess age.php?message_boar d_parent_id=101age= ) has been the dramatic icing on the cake, to a series of robberies in the Kingwood area.The Data: Recent Robbery ActivityAccording to the Houston Crime Map (
mycity.houstontx.gov /crime/ ), the 77339 Kingwood zip code has recently been subjected to the following robberies:Jan 6, 2014 -- Bank robbery - Walmart on NorthparkJan 21, 2014 -- Bank robbery - Walmart on Northpark (Part Deux - "I'm Back!," says the robber)Jan 23, 2014 -- Drug Store / Medical Supply - Kingwood DriveJan 24, 2014 -- Strip Business Center on Northpark DrJan 24, 2014 -- CVS / Walgreens on Kingwood Dr - Carjacking, believed to be part of a carjacking ring targeting the Kingwood area.Feb 2, 2014 -- CVS / Walgreens - Store Robbery with SWAT team standoffIs it just me, or does that seem like an unusually large number of robberies for this area.Who Is To Blame?No, I don't blame the police for this -- they did catch the recent robbery suspects. Details are still incoming, but it looks like they captured at least two suspects, one after a long and intense SWAT standoff. I have a sneaky suspicion, however, that the Kingwood division of the police department is underfunded and under supported. This suspicion is strengthened by a video we posted on Kingwood.com in October from a Gun Rights group (
www.kingwood.com/mes sages/gun_rights_gro up_confrontation_wit h_poli.php?message=&vpage=0&message_board_category_id=999 ), where we can see officers claiming there are only are only 5 police units to cover Kingwood, Summerwood, Lake Houston, Huffman and Crosby. That seems like a ridiculously small staff to cover such a large area...if this is true, I don't blame the police department -- they are doing the best they can with the limited resources they have available. In addition, at one of the KSA Public Safety meetings recently, Brian Danneman stated that: "since the City of Houston took over Kingwood[,...] the population has doubled but the police force has stayed the same." Specifically, the HPD-Kingwood Division opened in 2004 with an 85 person staff, and that staff has not grown over the past 10 years despite the population increase. (Source: Kingwood Observer:
www.yourhoustonnews. com/kingwood/news/pu blic-safety-committe e-discusses-mor ). Again, it sounds like the police department is not getting the attention, funding and staffing it needs.Why Not Kingwood?On the other hand, I don't necessarily blame the robbers either. Kingwood is an affluent, easy going community. If Kingwood was not on their radar before we are certainly there now, after a recent set of bank robberies earned National Media attention: a middle aged woman in a hoodie robs one of our banks on Northpark, and then two weeks later returns to rob it again, declaring "I'm back!" She makes a clean getaway both times, apparently on foot no less! After that kind of a story, I don't blame some people for thinking that robbing a bank in Kingwood is like shooting fish in a barrel. Thankfully, the Kingwood Police have done much to refute this notion, after the quick apprehension of two suspects in the most recent robbery. It's good to see the police taking action and getting results to shut down this type of criminality and make robbery less appealing and more risky for the bad guys.What Can Be Done:Kingwood residents need to voice their displeasure and demand a safer community. I have a couple suggestions if you'd like to help make a change:Contact your City of Houston Council Member representative, Dave Martin (
www.houstontx.gov/co uncil/e/ --- 832.393.3008 ---
districte@houstontx.gov )Contact the Kingwood Police department and HPD-Kingwood Captain Mark May and ask what can be done ( 281-913-4500 -- 3915 Rustic Woods )Voice your concern at the monthly Super Neighborhood Council ( 3nd Wednesday of each month --
www.kingwoodsnc.com/ ) Complain online -- here on Kingwood.com, on the other major local forum KU, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on any other social media you belong to.If you belong to the KSA, contact their Public Safety Committee,
which provides a liaison between the community and the Houston Police
Department, and demand that they work to leverage their resources and influence
to help improve the security situation in Kingwood ( KSA Public Safety
Meeting - HPD PIP Positive Interaction Program - Meeting is held the 3rd Tuesday
of each month at the Kingwood Church of Christ Church, 2901 Woodland
Hills Drive. KSA Phone: 281-358-5192, KSA Email: info@kingwoodserviceassociation.org -)Feedback:What do you think? Is this being blown out of proportion? Is increasing police presence a bad solution to the problem at hand? Do you have any different ideas or suggestions on how to affect change? This is a Community forum, so please post your thoughts, ideas, and corrections. 4951