Crime February 21 - June 12 (approx), and a local tragedy

Crime Reports tabulates an unremarkable collection of crimes in Centerpointe during the almost-four-month period that just passed.

Excerpted from www.crimereports.com
One fight at a party, one incident of cars broken into but nothing stolen, and the burglary (B) was a string trimmer snatched from an open garage.

There continue to be the usual collection of petty thefts from builder houses in Section 9, not all of which seem to get reported to police.  Last week, I was helping one of the builders water newly-laid sod in a house quite near us,  methodically shifting their sprinkler around the new yard (why not? I was the closest person and I love to work outdoors, so it made sense for me to do it).  In the middle of this process, between sprinkler positionings, someone apparently walked off with builder's garden hose.  Just the hose - they tossed the sprinkler head aside.  For crying out loud, why is this type of thing necessary?  It was a ten-dollar hose.

But as I mentioned before, the trades who steal virtually always restrict themselves to builder thefts - I have not heard of anyone losing any personal property from Section 9, and for months on end we've had probably up to 50 tradesmen per day swarming this place.

On a more serious note, last week there was a tragic incident in a neighborhood near us.  Galveston County Daily News is now reporting that a young man was murdered apparently while trying to prevent his truck from  being ransacked by thieves.  This occurred in the Clear Creek Village (CCV) subdivision which is basically located catercorner from us across IH-45.

Excerpted and annotated from
www.crimereports.com

I mentioned in a previous post that CCV is one of League City's oldest and most distinctive true subdivisions.  Many of its residents are long-timers, and the 23-year-old man who was murdered was reported to have grown up there.  We offer our deepest condolences to the family.

The good news is that LCPD has three capital murder suspects in custody.  Bay Area Citizen published additional information including mug shots.  It appears as if the perpetrators of this crime are now incarcerated, which is good news for the rest of us.

This incident raises the issue of what to do if you encounter a theft in progress on your property and, in fact, that type of crime does occur routinely in all subdivisions, including Centerpointe.  Texas' castle doctrine is well-known for permitting the use of deadly force in those instances, and most Texans have an urge to dance in the streets whenever a homeowner or business owner swiftly turns the table by permanently dispatching those who seek to do harm (one of the best-known recent cases involved a Houston small business owner who shot dead three would-be robbers of his jewelry store).

But homeowners should understand the life-and-death risks they are assuming if they intend to confront criminals.  Even though one of my favorite Texas acronyms is "CHL", and despite the fact that I'm a darned good shot, my response to a property violation will always be the safest course of action, not the most noble course of action.  Unless someone's life is in danger, I would always flee a burglary situation.  Whatever property is being stolen is simply not worth a risk to your life.