Houston city officials announced an initiative Feb. 13 called Police, Pastors and People. The initiative is a collaboration between law enforcement, faith leaders and community stakeholders that city officials say will help reduce crime among youth.

The details

Council member Willie Davis said the initiative will see pastors and police communicate with one another to understand the community’s needs and effectively facilitate communication between Houstonians and youth.

Davis said the idea behind the initiative is that people are more inclined to speak with faith leaders than police officers, and these leaders can share the needs of the community with the police.

Davis said new data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System shows that violent crimes have increased in Houston. In 2024, there were 27,298 violent crimes reported, compared to 2023 where there were 26,106.

Davis said violent crimes committed by children ages 10 and under rose from 32 in 2023 to 79 in 2024. Amongst 11- to 15-year-olds, 525 violent crimes were reported in 2023, while 617 were reported in 2024. Meanwhile, 16 to 20-year-olds saw 1,720 in 2023, and 1,955 in 2024.“We absolutely need to get these numbers down,” Davis said during the news conference. “There is no good reason for kids to be committing these kinds of crimes. These are kids whose life trajectory will undoubtedly be affected negatively because of the crimes they committed.”

Quote of note

Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent and solve crime in the Houston area, said during the news conference that this initiative will help youth be directed away from going down the wrong path.

“When parents aren’t there, when families are broken, when community pressures are there, when there’s no one left to talk to, a faith leader can literally turn the tides."