Peter Brown for Mayor, Houston 2009


Crime is one of the greatest challenges Houston faces. Of the nine largest cities in America, Houston ranks eighth in terms of public safety. Peter is running for Mayor because he knows we need to get crime under control if we want to continue to be an attractive place to start a family or open a business. To do that, we’re going to need a plan:

Neighborhood Policing: Officers Where They’re Needed, When They’re needed

Peter’s plan would get police officers out of downtown and into the community. Police officers will get to know our neighborhoods, and the neighborhoods will get to know their local officers, fostering relationships of trust and accountability, whether you live in Kingwood or the Third Ward. 

  • First, put cops back on the beat. Police officers on foot and on bicycle will get to know and be known in communities. They’ll be plugged into local happenings and accountable to local residents.
  • Keep experienced officers working in the neighborhoods they know in order to build and maintain institutional knowledge and the valuable relationships they’ve formed. 
  • Break down administrative jurisdictions into smaller, localized components. A city of more than 620 square miles is too big to protect from one office. Precinct-based policing will help police officers be more responsive and accountable to local jurisdictions, while allowing officers to tailor their crime fighting strategies to the neighborhoods they serve.
  • Partner with community organizations and neighborhood watch groups where they exist, and encourage their formation where they don't. By creating avenues for residents to invest themselves in the security of their communities, we can build a safer Houston together.

A Coordinated Response: Connecting our Crime-Fighters

There are a number of law-enforcement jurisdictions within the City of Houston, including the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s office, and the Harris County Constables. Peter believes that our law enforcement must be able to coordinate and communicate directly when a crisis arises, and work together to better protect the residents of Houston. Whether it’s responding to a hurricane evacuation, a high speed chase, or a shootout, our law enforcement officers need to be better connected. Every minute counts, and we can’t afford to have critical time wasted navigating jurisdictions and bureaucracy.

  • Create, maintain, and streamline channels of communication between agencies across the city, to direct resources and responses where they are needed and can make the biggest difference.
  • Coordinate policing strategies with other jurisdictions to make the best possible use of expertise and resources, and avoid any wasteful duplication of policing efforts.

The Tools They Need: Applying the Best Technologies to Keep Houston Safe

Other large American cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York have cut their crime rates with the help of new technologies and crime fighting strategies. Houston has begun to adopt some of these tactics, but our city must make a more comprehensive commitment to ensuring that our officers are using the latest technologies and best practices when it comes to fighting crime. These investments will save money and lives by making our policing more efficient and more effective.

  • Houston has made a substantial investment in a Real-Time Crime Center, which provides critical information to officers responding to crimes, and helps formulate crime-fighting strategies based on the patterns of criminal behavior. We need to continue and expand the use of these resources, which can not only drive more efficient policing strategies but also provide for more accountable policing.
  • By making use of these “COMP-STAT” technologies, we can track and predict patterns of crime, and get ahead of criminals, making it easier to track them down and get them off of the streets.
  • Houston has invested in state of the art crime-fighting tools like an expanded helicopter force, and we need to make sure that the our police agencies always have access to the best technologies and strategies available. In the future, we need to stop following the lead of other cities when it comes to fighting crime. Instead, lets make Houston a leader.

For the past four years, Councilman Brown has been a strong voice for crime prevention on City Council, addressing crime in our neighborhoods, working with local leaders to start a program to prevent ex-offenders from returning to a life of crime, and successfully fighting for new helicopters for local law enforcement. He will use his broad crime-fighting experience, comprehensive plan and creative vision to build a safer Houston.