03:43 PM CDT on Friday, September 23, 2005

Associated Press

HOUSTON -- When Houston-area residents heeded warnings to flee Hurricane Rita, they left behind nearly abandoned neighborhoods and stores.

AP

And a potential playground for thieves.

By Friday morning at least three people had been arrested on charges of looting. Houston school district police arrested three juveniles Thursday night who were accused of going room to room at Hamilton Middle School looking for electronics.

“They did this because they thought no one would be paying attention,” district spokesman Terry Abbott said. “We are amazed it was happening even before the storm.”

Houston Police Capt. Dwayne Ready said city police had not received reports of looting but were making extra patrols in areas around pawn shops, gun shops and stores such as Wal-Mart that might “be attractive to the criminal element.”

Ready said the department would pay greater-than-usual attention to pawn shops and gun shops after looters in New Orleans raided such stores, leaving roving bands of gunmen on the streets after Hurricane Katrina.

Ready said officers had responded to several burglary calls since the mass evacuations in the state’s largest city started earlier this week, but said they were routine calls and didn’t rise to the level of looting.

“I think the key element in looting is the fact that those who would not otherwise engage themselves in criminal activity (join in) and believe they will be able to hide in the crowd,” Ready said. “It’s the difference between an unlawful assembly and a riot. Essentially (looting) is theft but I think its when the crowd believes they can hide against the anonymity of a large crowd engaged in the same kind of conduct.”

And with the department at full alert Friday morning, Ready said officers would be very visible as long as weather conditions allow.

“We have put out the message that we are not going to tolerate looting and we have increased out presence and visibility,” Ready said.

Abbott said his officers were also planning to be very visible throughout the day.

To the south of the city, in South Houston and nearby Bellaire, police officials said they also had not received any reports of looting.