Have you or anyone you know been a crime victim in the Houston area? (Sugar Land: appointed, 2013)

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by Alphalogica

I also forgot to mention that my mom was robbed at gun-point at the Sugar Land Wal-Mart at Hwy 90 and 6 around 2004 as she was about to load up her car. No arrests were made.

The armed robberies are freaking me out. Whenever I shop (which isn't often other than groceries), I practically sprint from the front door of stores to my car.

Originally Posted by XodoX

They got me again. 20 k Dollar in credit card charges I'm trying to fight now

Ugh, I'm sorry that happened to you.

[Kenpar]

Originally Posted by XodoX

No, someone must have stolen one of my cards. Guess what they used it for... Air Mexico, of course. 20k!!

Lol, Air Mexico. Of course?

But, either way I am sorry this happened to you man. I hope you are able to recover most of it.

[XodoX]

Originally Posted by Kenpar

Lol, Air Mexico. Of course?

But, either way I am sorry this happened to you man. I hope you are able to recover most of it.

Yes. Read my other posts in this thread.

Thanks guys. They better do

[pach84]

What is more likely to happen here in Houston? Robbery? Car theft? Assault?

I do feel safer here than in Chi-town or LA. My place and car were broken into in broad daylight in the past. I haven't been victimized here yet. Is it just me or is Houston a little safer for a big city?

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by pach84

What is more likely to happen here in Houston? Robbery? Car theft? Assault?

I do feel safer here than in Chi-town or LA. My place and car were broken into in broad daylight in the past. I haven't been victimized here yet. Is it just me or is Houston a little safer for a big city?

I suspect your feeling of relative safety has more to do with where you live in Houston vs your pad in Chicago. However, statistically-speaking, you are safer, on average, in Houston than in Chicago. Look under "Crime in" on each City data link, and you'll see annual crime data for the last decade. Pro-rated for population, Houston is better off than Chicago in most categories of crime, including murder, robberies and aggravated assaults.

[texaggie]

Originally Posted by Zhang Fei

What happened, and did the Houston Police Department provide any closure, in the form of arrests or recovery of property?

We were burglarized about 4 years ago in the Galleria area. About $12,000 worth of electronics and other personal items were stolen. Police came and fingerprinted (which you will wait hours for since they only have 1 or 2 fingerprint kits for the entire city). You'll never hear back about your belongings, even if you give them the serial numbers like we did. Nobody is going to the pawn shops and looking for your stolen stuff. We had to call the police since we wanted to make a claim against our insurance, but otherwise the police didn't or couldn't do a darn thing.

Last year, also in the same community, my driver's side truck window was busted out in the early morning hours. Police were called by another victim. When I got out to my car in the morning, there was a note left in my car seat by the police with the case number on it. I just threw it in the garbage.

Moral of the story, insure your stuff, don't leave anything in your car, put family heirlooms in a bank safe deposit box.

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by texaggie

We were burglarized about 4 years ago in the Galleria area.

Last year, also in the same community, my driver's side truck window was busted out in the early morning hours. Police were called by another victim. When I got out to my car in the morning, there was a note left in my car seat by the police with the case number on it. I just threw it in the garbage.\

Sorry to hear that. Did your home have an burglar alarm installed (noisemaker or line to the local security company)? Was your truck equipped with an alarm? (I have no idea if these things work at all, but it's interesting to know when thieves encounter these anti-theft devices and go for it anyway).

[Invictis]

Originally Posted by texaggie

We were burglarized about 4 years ago in the Galleria area. About $12,000 worth of electronics and other personal items were stolen. Police came and fingerprinted (which you will wait hours for since they only have 1 or 2 fingerprint kits for the entire city). You'll never hear back about your belongings, even if you give them the serial numbers like we did. Nobody is going to the pawn shops and looking for your stolen stuff. We had to call the police since we wanted to make a claim against our insurance, but otherwise the police didn't or couldn't do a darn thing.

Last year, also in the same community, my driver's side truck window was busted out in the early morning hours. Police were called by another victim. When I got out to my car in the morning, there was a note left in my car seat by the police with the case number on it. I just threw it in the garbage.

Moral of the story, insure your stuff, don't leave anything in your car, put family heirlooms in a bank safe deposit box.

Yep, I know people that have been burglarized in Sugar Land, and the police don't do a damn thing about it. One of my friends had his xbox stolen, he called the police, they gave him a case # and said they'd investigate it and what not, a few hours later my friend decided to call the local gamestops and pawn shops to see if anyone pawned his xbox(xbox 360's have serial #'s on them, and luckily he wrote his down). The first gamestop he called received his xbox a few hours prior, so he called the cops again, told them what gamestop the xbox was at, and the cops ended up arresting the man(when you sell games/etc. at any pawn shop/game stop you have to provide identification) and my friend got his xbox back. I feel bad for game stop though, when things like that happen they don't get their money back, at least until the criminal is prosecuted but usually they won't even pursue it.

[Alphalogica]

Originally Posted by Invictis

Yep, I know people that have been burglarized in Sugar Land, and the police don't do a damn thing about it.

In my dealings with the SLPD as a crime victim (the incident is post #61 in this thread), they were excellent. One SLPD officer responded to my house and others went to the location of the suspects. When the 1 SLPD and I officer rode to the suspects house, there were 4 dudes already handcuffed, & Indian style in the front lawn by two other SL officers. I sat with one SLPD patrol car with one officer, and picked out which 3 of the 4 did the crime in an I guess what would be impromptu line-up in the middle of the street. The singleton who wasn't involved was uncuffed and released. From the time the crime was committed to the time the suspects were carted off to the SLPD station was tops 45 minutes. All three successfully convicted. Clean, easy as F--- case. However, in my case, I did know one of the suspects which did work out in my favor considerably. This was also back in 2002, too -- when it was transitioning from "bedroom community" to mini-Fort Worth.

The Fort Bend Co. DA's office and the Assistant DA who took care of my case (I regretfully forget his name as I had his business card for years afterwards), didn't take sh*t either. They did an excellent job.

I'm sorry to hear that you've had/heard of such bad experiences with them. Though I won't argue with a decent level of crime existing in Sugar Land (contrary to popular belief), I find much of the local police forces in Fort Bend to be extremely professional.

[Invictis]

Originally Posted by Alphalogica

In my dealings with the SLPD as a crime victim (the incident is post #61 in this thread), they were excellent. One SLPD officer responded to my house and others went to the location of the suspects. When the 1 SLPD and I officer rode to the suspects house, there were 4 dudes already handcuffed, & Indian style in the front lawn by two other SL officers. I sat with one SLPD patrol car with one officer, and picked out which 3 of the 4 did the crime in an I guess what would be impromptu line-up in the middle of the street. The singleton who wasn't involved was uncuffed and released. From the time the crime was committed to the time the suspects were carted off to the SLPD station was tops 45 minutes. All three successfully convicted. Clean, easy as F--- case. However, in my case, I did know one of the suspects which did work out in my favor considerably. This was also back in 2002, too -- when it was transitioning from "bedroom community" to mini-Fort Worth.

The Fort Bend Co. DA's office and the Assistant DA who took care of my case (I regretfully forget his name as I had his business card for years afterwards), didn't take sh*t either. They did an excellent job.

I'm sorry to hear that you've had/heard of such bad experiences with them. Though I won't argue with a decent level of crime existing in Sugar Land (contrary to popular belief), I find much of the local police forces in Fort Bend to be extremely professional.

Well, that's good to know, maybe the incident with my buddy was an isolated incident. Also, we're in our early 20's, and police officers generally don't start giving you 'respect' until you're around 25 or 30, especially the younger officers.