Baytown officials talk about crime concerns

Sept. 11, 2007, 12:29AM
Mayor pledges budget support for police efforts

By CAROL CHRISTIAN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

About 200 Baytown residents turned out Monday for the second meeting of a new anti-crime group.

Baytown Concerned Citizens, which drew about 70 people to its first meeting last month, has grown largely through information posted on a Web site, www.hotpursuit.com, organizers said.

The group and its mission has had the blessing of Police Chief Byron Jones, Mayor Steve DonCarlos and City Manager Garry Brumback, who took part in Monday's meeting at the Baytown Community Center.

City manager impressed: "It is more inspirational than I have words to express having an organization like this in my new home town," said Brumback, who is in the second week of his job as city manager.

"The fact that citizens are willing to give of their time is what makes a community great."

Brumback moved to Baytown from Clearwater, Fla., where he was assistant city manager.

Jones, who said the city used to have 35 Neighborhood Watch groups in the early 1990s, said the police department has felt the loss of those crime-prevention groups.

"It takes all y'all to be our eyes and ears," Jones said. "You're going to know things happening in your neighborhood before we do."

Jones urged people to return to the days of being "nosy neighbors" to help control crime.

The mayor pledged City Hall's support for the police department but also called upon the public.

"One of the comments we got early on in this exercise was that people were concerned we were turning the problem over to citizens," DonCarlos said.

"In a way it's true, but in a different way than people thought. I can guarantee that as a City Council we're going to be sure that the police department has the resources to get the job done ... But we all have to do our part."

One of the new group's organizers, Baytown resident Bert Marshall, said those who are interested in the issue appear to be in it for the long haul.

"We're looking for a paradigm shift, where this becomes what we do — get rid of crime," Marshall said after Monday's meeting.

"We're going to start taking care of each other. We're going to chase crime out of town, and dope is going with it."

Marshall writes a blog called Baytown Bert, which has chronicled some of the city's recent crimes and the development of Baytown Concerned Citizens.

In opening Monday's meeting, Marshall said he thought the group's access to police reports on the hotpursuit.com Web site and the cooperation it has received from city officials was unprecedented.

"We're going to empower citizens to know what crime is happening in the city," he said. "It allows you to see that four houses down from you somebody broke in the other night."

Question about budget: About half of Monday's two-hour meeting was devoted to city officials answering written questions.

One person asked if it were true that the police department's budget had been frozen.

Jones said that as the fiscal year ends this month, he has had to cut back on some expenditures because of heavy maintenance costs earlier.

"From time to time, we have unusual circumstances, like a lot of wrecked cars or the air conditioning goes out," Jones said.

"The police department is a business. I'm tasked with being fiscally responsible. I have to make sure that at the end of the year, I come in under budget," the chief said.

carol.christian@chron.com