06:02 PM CST on Monday, November 28, 2005

By Amy Tortolani / 11 News

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Houston police said they had 14 homicides to work over the holiday weekend. But is this a true indicator of the city's crime situation?

According to investigators, it was a record number of murders for the city.

So far there have been 285 murder victims in Houston this year. That number is 11 greater than the 274 victims in 2004, and there is still one month left in 2005.

Houston police have no explanation for the increase in murders.

The city saw what it calls an increase in violent crime in south and southwest Houston and set up a task force in order to deal with the problems.

While no one will say that task force failed, the mayor and the police chief said there is still plenty of work to be done.

"The violent crime rate has come down the last couple of years compared to the prior two years. The number of crimes has come down. But this murder rate concerns me," said Mayor Bill White. "This is why the HPD, last summer, noticed these trends and created a new task force in that area of town where we're seeing so much concentration of these murders."

"Not only are we going to be doing it from a police department standpoint, I've also been talking to community groups about them becoming more active in crime prevention, protecting their own property as well as looking out for their neighbors," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt.

Both the mayor and the police chief said they do not believe the increase in homicides is related to the increase in population due to the Katrina and Rita evacuees, but they are looking for answers.