HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT ‘ROBBERY STINGS’ RESULT IN FIVE DEATHS SINCE SEPTEMBER

By Scott Henson

Grits For Breakfast
March 18, 2016

Yesterday evening, officers with the Houston Police department shot and killed two people and injured two others after the officers confronted five armed robbery suspects following a hold-up at a furniture store. The officers had been following the suspects for the prior 24 hours.

Last night’s shooting resembles a pattern in Houston that I have noticed since I began following officer-involved shootings in Texas after a new reporting law took effect in September: HPD officers trail armed robbery suspects or stake out a location they believe will be robbed; officers confront the suspects as they commit the robbery; gunfire erupts; officers shoot and kill or injure the robbery suspects. In reports to the Attorney General, the operations are referred to as “robbery sting[s].” Including last night’s shooting, there have been four robbery stings since September involving HPD, which have resulted in five people killed and five people injured. Of the incidents that have been reported to the Attorney General, all the people killed or injured have been Black men ages 25 or under. One person injured was sixteen.

In October, one robbery suspect was killed and another injured after officers confronted suspects who were trying to rob a cash advance business. Also in October, two robbery suspects were killed and another injured after officers confronted suspects who were trying to rob a pawnshop. And in February, a 16-year-old was injured after officers confronted suspects who had robbed a meat market. News reports from two of the incidents indicated that officers involved were undercover or in plainclothes.

Not only have these sting operations resulted in the injuries and deaths of suspects and risked the lives of the officers involved, but they also risk the lives of innocent bystanders, as they take place in shopping malls, parking lots, and other public places, and occur in broad daylight. Last night’s shooting was at 6:45 PM, one incident took place at 10:10 AM, another at 2:30 PM, and another at 5 PM. In the most recent incident, bullets reportedly hit a nearby Denny’s.

It seems that plainclothes police officers confronting armed robbery suspects during the day and in public places is an incredibly dangerous way to arrest the suspects. I haven’t seen these kinds of incidents occur with other departments, so I’d be curious to know how other law enforcement agencies handle similar arrests without endangering so many lives.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Following is the comment I posted on Grits For Breakfast:

Grits, you're a typical far-leftie. Instead of praising a good police operation, you condemn it. And when you add, "all the people killed or injured have been Black men ages 25 or under," you make it seem like HPD cops are racially motivated in their sting operations. You sound like a member of Black Lives Matter.

The people killed were armed robbers. They happened to be black. I'm sure HPD would operate the same way with a gang of white robbers.

As for putting the lives of other people in danger by confronting the robbers in shopping areas, I suppose you would prefer they let the robbers get in their car and then give chase. Yeah, and that's not going to endanger the lives of innocent people on the roadway. Oh yes, and the cops should make sure they don't catch up to the robbers until they get to a deserted area where they can have a shootout with no innocent bystanders nearby. Get real, Grits!

I am sure that Grits and some of his readers are going to rack me over the coals for my comment.

Gritsforbreakfast said...call it what you will, but there have been a bunch of episodes where HPD was waiting for robbers when they came out of a location and gunned them down. In this case, one of the suspects pulled a gun on the person behind the counter but didn't use it, they left with nothing, and HPD shot five folks in the parking lot - no indication the perpetrators fired a shot. And it's not a one-off, it's a recurring tactic.

BGB, for the record, Amanda Woog wrote this post, though I don't see anything wrong with what she said. Also, I'd rather be associated with Black Lives Matter than the racist garbage being spewed earlier in this string. All day, every day.

Other departments combat robbery without reverting to Jim-Crow-era-style shotgun squads, which is what this sounds like to me. As I said, I look forward to seeing if the video corroborates the initial story. Then we'll be able to better judge if this was a “good police operation” or something else. History teaches us that often the initial spin put on shootings by police to the press aren't entirely accurate when it comes to HPD.

BarkGrowlBite said...My bad, Grits. I did not read the credit at the end of the piece. However, I stand by what I said.

The same as you, I don't go for that racial crap either. It would have been appropriate to say that a disproportionate number of blacks commit crime, but to say “blacks are criminals” is ridiculous, nonsensical, stupid and - you got it right - blatantly racist.

Grits, I am sure the Houston cops were not waiting outside that business in order to gun the robbers down. They wanted to make sure these guys were really robbers before making an arrest. I'm sure they shouted at the robbers they were police and to give up, but once they pointed their guns at the cops they were righteously bought and paid for.

The fact that no shots were fired, that only one crook pointed a gun at the clerk and that they left with nothing is completely irrelevant. Another time, another place they might easily have shot someone. Experience tells us that sooner or later a serial robber will use his gun and snuff someone, and that is more likely when robbers act together with several crime partners.

Speaking of racial crap, you're a little guilty of using that yourself. When you say, “Other departments combat robbery without reverting to Jim-Crow-era-style shotgun squads,” you're doing the same thing Amanda Wong did - making it seem as though the Houston cops were racially motivated. You too sound like a member of Black Lives Matter.

In closing, I want to say that what those Houston officers did was to use good proactive police tactics. They stopped and caught a gang of armed robbers. The two who were killed died because they were dangerous criminals, not because they happened to be black. The same with the other robberies Ms. Wong alluded to. Thanks to HPD, store clerks are somewhat safer now.