MARCH 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 3

NOT SO BRIGHT AWARD
lig ht bul b award
50,572 OPEN WARRANTS
IN HARRIS COUNTY ALONE
According to the Harris County
Sheriff’s Dept, there are 50,672 open
arrest warrants in Harris County.
About 25,292 of those are charged
with felonies. More than 700 people
have been charged with murder.
All have open arrest warrants and
remain either on the streets thanks
to the Living Dead on Harris County
Commissioners Court. Otherwise
known as Judge Hidaldo “Dora” &
Commissioners Garcia and Ellis.
Lt. Kacey Haberland, who works
in the criminal warrants division,
admits his team is overwhelm¬ed
“It’s a high number. It’s not good
to have anyone on a violent crime
running around, but there’s only so
many investigators and officers who
can run these warrants,” Haberland
said.
According to Haberland, this does
not mean more than 700 murder
suspects are wandering our streets.
He said some suspects are in custody
in other locations waiting to be
extradited to Harris County. However,
he doesn’t know how many. Still,
he predicts there are hundreds.
Beloved and long-time Cracker
Barrel employee, 59-year-old Robin
Baucom, was shot and killed in
January while protecting another
employee at work during an attempted
robbery.
Her killer, Nathan Humphrey, was
later killed by deputies who were
trying to arrest him. (No Loss Here)
Humphrey had five outstanding
warrants at the time of the murder
- three were for felonies. According
to court records, Humphrey had
a violent criminal past. He was
charged with aggravated assault of
a family member and burglary of
a habitation for allegedly breaking
into his girlfriend’s home and assaulting
her more than four months
before the Cracker Barrel shooting.
It was not until he was accused
of murder that he became a priority
to track down. Baucom’s sister, Gail,
is left wondering whether her sister
would still be alive if officers tried
to arrest Humphrey sooner.
“You wonder why. What can be
done?” Gail asked. “Does anyone
care that can make the changes?
Do you not care what happens to
innocent people?”
In an ABC13 report, they uncovered
fewer than 10% of people with
warrants were being arrested every
month in 2021. While arrests are
happening, there are roughly 4,000
to 6,000 new warrants every month.
“We are in the negative. We are
in the red every time on the warrant
count, more coming in than we are
able to arrest,” Haberland said.
The majority of the arrests come
from traffic stops. However, ABC13
wanted to know how many deputies
are going out and arresting people
on warrants each day.
Records show only 17 investigators
and sergeants within the Harris
County Sheriff’s Office criminal
warrant division are working to
find wanted offenders. This means,
Harris County Judge Nora Hidalgo, Commissioners Garcia
and Ellis all voted against giving the
slightly more than a dozen officers
are responsible for looking for more
than 25,000 suspects wanted for
felonies right now.
“We have so many murders in
Harris County, unincorporated, or
the city of Houston, that they focus
predominately on murders,” Haberland
said.
Because that takes a priority,
it means those wanted for other
crimes, like in Humphrey’s case, a
convicted felon, wanted for assaulting
and breaking into his girlfriend’s
apartment, are put on the back
burner.
“It should be a priority, I will be
the first to say it, but there are not
enough people,” Haberland said.
Haberland said the spike in crime,
not enough officers running warrants,
and outside factors like the
court backlog, are the reasons they
can’t keep up, and in turn, there are
victims like Robin Baucom, whose
lives are lost to senseless violence.
“Until something is done to get a
handle on the crime out there and
give the police what they need - the
backing, the money, to get more
effort into getting people off the
streets, it’s going to get worse,” Gail
said. It can happen to anyone. And
when it happens to your family,
you realize how much needs to be
changed.”
HERES THE LIGHT BULB AWARD.
Harris County Commissioner’s
Court passed a $2.1 billion budget
in 2022 for the Harris County Sheriff’s
Dept. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez had
asked for an additional 19 NEW
deputy positions within the warrants
division and 12 civil record
specialists to handle the administrative
duties.
HOW MANY DID HE GET? ZERO!
NOT a single dollar was approved
to add more staff to the warrants
division. Gonzalez says the numbers
are concerning, and residents
!
deserve to know when there will be
a change.
“We are not going to give up, and
we are working closely with HPD
and will try to grow partnerships to
expand our reach and pursue more
wanted offenders,” Gonzalez said.
THE ANSWER
Vote these three Walking Dead
Court Members OUT. Let’s elect
someone who cares about the citizens
in Harris County and make our
streets safe again.
In the meantime, let’s form a joint
task force with every department
in Harris and surrounding counties,
offering up a few good men and
women for up to 30-days.
Put 150 officers on the ground everyday
rounding up these convicts.
In less than a month I’m betting at
least half will be behind bars.
100 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 101