Crime Stoppers’ Impact in February
Sad but true, 1 in 3 adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner. We cannot ignore the fact that dating violence can happen to any teen in a romantic, dating, or sexual relationship, anytime, anywhere. So it’s important that we get aware and start talking.
February was Teen Dating Violence (TDV) Prevention and Awareness Month. Crime Stoppers of Houston joined the nationwide efforts and partnered with other organizations to provide the community at large with information on what Teen Dating Violence is, what it may look like and what we can do to prevent it from happening:
- Download our TDV prevention flyer here
- Read the informative blog by Dr. Jeff Temple, professor at UTMB Healthhere
- Learn about a victim’s experience and perspective here
In her weekly blog on The Buzz Magazines Crime Stoppers ED Rania Mankarious touched on the high interest issue of Super Bowl Safety and how to stay safe on Facebook. Together with Brian Allen, Director of Security and Emergency Management at Galena Park ISD, she also discussed the importance of creating safety awareness in our kids with Freddy Cruz on 104.1 KRBE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr8UR5natCA&feature=youtu.be).
Beyond outreach efforts to educate Houstonians on various safety concerns we were busy meeting with others in the community who support crime prevention in our city. Among others we attended the NFL Verizon Unsung Heroes Luncheon dedicated to ending domestic violence. Crime Stoppers and countless other local domestic violence and sexual assault prevention organizations and shelters were recognized with this special luncheon. At the 22nd Annual Campus Crime Stoppers Conference in Pariswe gathered with Crime Stoppers board members, student board members, staff, administrators, law enforcement coordinators and volunteers from all around Texas for this educational experience that provides networking and training opportunities. Later in the month we were invited to speak at KBR, Inc.’s Monthly Volunteer Council Meetingand had the opportunity to attend the very informative drug course “You Can’t Stop What You Don’t Know” facilitated by Tall Cop Says Stop to learn about current alcohol, drug and concealment trends, and identifiers.
On February 27 the first Crime Stoppers of Houston’s television showaired on The NUDU 28.10. Every week the show features unsolved crimes that have occurred recently and we talk with victims and law enforcement. Please tune in Mondays at 9:00pm to stay updated (digital signal, LIVE on Facebook on either our #CrimeStoppersofHouston page or The NUDU 28.10’s page).
Apart from our crime prevention and safety education efforts this past month we continued working closely with Houston’s law enforcement to get criminals off our streets and behind bars:
- Press conference together with family members, Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Gonzalez and media partners to announce an increased reward of up to $50,000 for any information leading to the arrest and/or charges on the suspect in the murder case of 19-year old Frank Medrano.
- Press conference in partnership with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office hosted a press conference to ask for the public’s help in identifying three suspects responsible for Fail to Stop and Render Aid Fatality accident that killed Juan Manuel Cano.
- Live press conference with Javier Flores’ family and HPD providing new images of the suspect and announcing the increased $40k reward.
For detailed numbers on our Tip Line please read below:
During the month of February the Crime Stoppers Tip Line:
- Received 619 tips
- 6 tips – Solved felony cases
- 26 tips – Executed felony warrants
- Arrested 28 suspects
- Solved/executed 32 cases
- Cleared 24 offense reports
- Paid 29 anonymous tipsters
- Solved 4 school cases
Below is one of the case solved by Crime Stoppers in February:
After school on 2/7/17, a 9th Grade student told other students of his plan to place bombs in the school’s cafeteria on the following day (2/8/17). The 9th grader went on to say that after the bombs exploded, and while the students were fleeing the building, they would be “mowed down” (meaning shot).
A tipster called Crime Stoppers on 2/8/17 and provided information that a 9th grade juvenile at Deer Park North High School shared a plan to bomb and shoot at his school. The tipster did not know the number of bombs the juvenile allegedly had, nor did the tipster know if the juvenile was working alone, or with accomplices. They only reported what the juvenile was heard saying after school.
An investigator immediately contacted Deer Park North High School, and provided all of the tip information to a Deer Park PD campus officer on 2/8/17 for review and follow-up. Crime Stoppers was notified on 2/8/17 at 1235 hours that the listed juvenile was arrested for 3rd Degree Felony Terroristic Threat and charged. No explosive devices were discovered on the school campus. The juvenile suspect was held at the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center for a period of days and then released into the custody of his parents. This plot was thwarted and the juvenile suspect was arrested due to the Crime Stoppers tip.
During the month of February, Crime Stoppers of Houston:
- Held 53 Safe School presentations and 2 trainings
- Trained 3,056 students
- Reached 169 teachers/law enforcement members
- Reached 85 parents
Posted by on 1 Mar 2017