Community feels abandoned by police

07:46 PM CDT on Monday, May 16, 2005

By Janice Williamson / 11 News

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HOUSTON -- A neighborhood that once considered itself as a model for what police and citizens can accomplish together gathered to confront Houston Police Monday night about feelings of being abandoned.

KHOU-TV

On Houston's north side, graffiti covers signs and buildings.

The success story has soured.

People in the Northline community, just north of downtown Houston, accuse the department of leaving them to fend for themselves. They said the officers are out and the crime is in.

Some unwelcome changes have the community very concerned.

On Houston's north side, graffiti covers signs and buildings.

Grover Oliver didn't expect to see a spray-painted message on the front door of Bethany Lutheran Church. "That's graffiti to me. We wouldn't have done anything like that. None of our members would have done anything like that," he said.

"I'm just really, really sad. Things aren't very well around here, we have a lot of crime," said Claudia Landin, north side resident.

There is still glass in the church parking lot from a car thief who struck during Sunday services. Even the landscaping can't escape the crime wave, which residents said began last fall.

"We had an article that was written about us in the "Leader" for having a rally here, that we were complaining like a bunch of babies because of police protection," Oliver said. "Where is police protection when this is happening?"

Houston police said they have a manpower shortage. Officers who used to answer nuisance calls in the area must now focus on more serious crime.

Even dogs and a locked gate aren't enough to ease Diana Villalpando's worries about the changes in her neighborhood. "She was in, I guess her underwear, and you know she was just exposing herself walking up and down the street," she said. "I'm glad my kids weren't in the car I don't want my kids to see that."

Drug dealers and prostitutes, she said, don't even bother to hide their business. It's as if they have nothing to fear.

More than a dozen neighborhood groups were expected to attend a meeting at Kennedy Elementary School Monday evening.

HPD is expected to be there too, but will only answer questions that were submitted in writing ahead of time.

Some residents said they plan to take their protest to the streets if necessary.