HPD officers being moved to homicide division to deal with crime influx

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It was another deadly night as the Houston Police Department moves officers around to fight the skyrocketing crime rate in Houston.

Since 10:30 p.m. Monday, at least three people have been shot in the city, and at least one died.

At the murder scene on the north side, a detective gave ABC13 more insight on which officers are being moved where.

Around 10:30 p.m., officers say a man was shot and killed along the North Sam Houston Parkway East feeder road near the Waffle House.

He and another man were walking on the sidewalk when they got into some kind of fight, according to HPD. That's when the man turned to the victim and shot him multiple times.

Police say the shooter ran off.

Officers and detectives are getting moved from different departments to the homicide division to work these crimes because there's such an influx.

The lieutenant on scene told ABC13 he's one of the investigators just moved to homicide.

"It's moving along pretty quickly right now. I'm new, back to the division, trying to get a grip on what's going on. I do know we're doing everything we can," Lt. Jimmy Dodson said. "We're sending more detectives to the homicide division. We're getting even more patrol officers on the streets as quickly as possible to continue to keep our citizens safe."

SEE ALSO: How COVID-19 has impacted rise in violence involving teens in Harris County

It seems children and teens are becoming more at the center of recent violent crimes in Houston. ABC13's Mycah Hatfield spoke with many who live in an area where crime is happening too often and they say they fear for their loved ones.

Last month, Chief Art Acevedo told ABC13 that 20 detectives who work property crimes had been transferred to investigate homicides because property crimes are down about 15% right now.

In response to the high homicide stats, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner added six more cadet classes. One of them graduated last week.

"We will be expanding the number of cadet classes. I've already announced that to six," Turner said. "We will be providing additional resources to clear these cases, and we will be very intentional about providing the Houston Forensic Center what they need in order to clear these cases much quicker."

All of this is happening amid the search for a new police chief. Mayor Turner says he will announce the new chief by the end of this week, but hasn't given any insight on the search.

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