Over 100 officers from major cities in Texas are converging in Houston to help the Houston Police Department patrol the region in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
What’s happening?
Hurricane Beryl hit the Texas coast July 8 as a Category 1 hurricane. According to CenterPoint Energy, the storm left approximately 2.26 million customers without electricity in the Houston region.
As of July 11, according to the most recent update, more than half of all households and businesses facing power outages were restored.
However, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said that still leaves many neighborhoods in the dark and many residents vulnerable to criminal activity.
With the city dealing with a shortage of police officers, he said he reached out to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to secure additional personnel.
“On their way to Houston right now are over 100 officers from our major cities and around the state of Texas,” he said. “They will be here to work with HPD in our communities that are dark from lack of electricity.”
The additional officers are expected to begin patrols the evening of July 11 and remain in Houston through July 14.
The details
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Whitmire said the incoming officers will also help with traffic enforcement.
As of July 11, Whitmire said 1,400 traffic signals throughout the city are down. Acting Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said as a result, the city has seen a huge spike in crashes.
According to the city of Houston’s incidents report, approximately 30 crashes happened just between the hours of 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. July 11.
“Without power, we have multiple challenges,” Satterwhite said. “Traffic on the roadways is incredibly dangerous. There are so many intersections that, without power, you don’t know they are there until you’re in the middle of them, ... and it can be catastrophic.”
While the city has seen a spike in crashes, Satterwhite said they have not seen an increase in criminal activity.
However, visiting officers will still help patrol neighborhoods and relieve HPD officers who have been working long shifts.
Another detail
Satterwhite deployed full mobilization the morning of July 9, which requires all police officials to work 12-hour shifts on a rotating schedule.
“We have a lot of support out there because of the full mobilization to keep everybody safe, but we also have officers out there that were personally impacted,” he said. “They have trees in their houses. They have no power. They have families that are in need. So this will allow some of them to go home and take care of their families too.”
The visiting officers are coming from 15 different cities including San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi and McKinney.
Officers will be in their own patrol vehicles.
“We are going to be working in tandem in our neighborhoods that are most vulnerable with additional support,” Satterwhite said. “We are doing everything we can to protect the public while we all work to get through this storm crisis.”
