{"id":8529,"date":"2025-10-17T15:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/8529\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T15:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T15:45:15","slug":"texas-launches-task-force-to-target-repeat-criminal-offenders-in-houston-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/8529\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas launches task force to target repeat criminal offenders in Houston area"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/p>\n

HOUSTON \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott is launching a \u201cviolent crimes task force\u201d in Harris County composed of several state, county and local law enforcement agencies to go \u201call in\u201d on identifying, tracking and arresting repeat criminal offenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a Texas-size effort by both the state Department of Public Safety as well as local law enforcement at every level, an effort to crack down on dangerous repeat offenders in the Houston area using the full might of our most elite law enforcement officers,\u201d Abbott said during a press conference on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an initiative Abbott said he plans to expand at some point to the rest of the state and hopes will be \u201cthe national model for public safety in America\u2019s largest cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott didn\u2019t say which areas of Texas would be next to get a similar task force: \u201cIt could be rural Texas, urban Texas, suburban Texas \u2014 we will look at every corner of the state to make sure we\u2019re making it as safe as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Abbott said officers from multiple agencies will \u201cbe swarming these operations in these neighborhoods,\u201d looking for repeat criminal offenders. The governor said he\u2019s talked to Houston Mayor John Whitmire, who didn\u2019t attend the press conference, \u201cabout public safety at least a half dozen times\u201d to ensure that Houston police are working to bring down crime rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s proud of the fact that crime is going down, but understands that there\u2019s a lot more to get done,\u201d Abbot said of Whitmire.<\/p>\n

Abbott said he chose to start the task force in Houston because of a \u201chistoric relationship that already exists\u201d between him and local leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought this was a good place to start, and then we will learn and be able to modify our strategies based upon what we do here, and then be able to deploy our best strategies to other areas across the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

DPS Director Freeman Martin sat next to Abbott at the conference and said residents in and around Houston should expect to \u201csee an increased uniform presence and patrol operations in high crime areas.\u201d Martin said such \u201csaturated patrols\u201d have proven effective at reducing crime in Houston and other Texas cities.<\/p>\n

Although some Houston neighborhoods, such as downtown and the area around the medical center, have seen crime rates climb over the last few years, according to an analysis by the Houston Chronicle<\/a>, most neighborhoods are seeing crime decline. For example, Greater Greenspoint, a neighborhood in north Houston, has seen crime drop nearly 20% in the last five years, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

Abbott said \u201cthere\u2019s never been any threat or any assertion\u201d that President Donald Trump will send the National Guard to Houston, as he has to Washington D.C.<\/a>, because \u201cthe president does know that I, as governor, as well as our local law enforcement, that we\u2019re very committed to\u201d reducing crime across the state.<\/p>\n

17 statewide propositions will appear on the November ballot. Here\u2019s what Texas voters need to know.<\/a><\/p>\n

Abbott blamed the state\u2019s bail system for allowing criminals to commit more crimes. He said it\u2019s why he signed changes to the system<\/a> into law in June, limiting who is eligible for cashless bond. In November, Texans will vote on Proposition 3, which would deny bail for people accused of certain violent or sexual offenses.<\/p>\n

Abbott has deployed state troopers to Texas cities before to augment local police. In 2023, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and Abbott made a deal to send state troopers<\/a> to support Austin\u2019s understaffed police department.<\/p>\n

After four months, Watson suspended the partnership after troopers pulled out a gun during a traffic stop of a person with a 10-year-old<\/a> in the car, but Abbott responded by sending 30 more troopers to the city, bringing the total to 130 on the ground.<\/p>\n

Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival<\/a>, happening Nov. 13\u201315 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas\u2019 most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now<\/a> and join us this November.<\/p>\n

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8077,392,56,58,57],"class_list":{"0":"post-8529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-department-of-public-safety","9":"tag-greg-abbott","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}