From the Desk of Chief Ray Schultz,
Once again it has been a busy week for us here at the
MVPD and thanks to our ALPR system, it ended up being a bad week for some area
criminals. On Tuesday our ALPR along
with some good old fashion police work, quickly identified the suspects vehicle
that was involved in the theft of a Cadillac Escalade from a restaurant on the
I-10 frontage road.
Our dispatchers and sworn office personnel monitor
surrounding dispatch channels and we learned of an auto theft that had just
occurred near the mall. Our staff
immediately began to look for the stolen vehicle on our ALPR cameras. Within
minutes of the theft, we saw on the cameras where the stolen vehicle had
traveled through the villages eventually leaving on S. Piney Point Rd. Knowing
that auto thieves often have accomplices follow them after they steal a
vehicle, our detectives performed a check to see what, if any, vehicle(s) were
following the stolen SUV. The ALPR’s showed a silver Dodge with a paper plate
to follow it as it passed though the villages making the same turns. A subsequent search of silver Dodge sedans
located the same car but without the paper tag and displaying a real plate at
the same location of the theft at the same time. A short time later, the same
Dodge returned to the same area once again showing the real license plate as
the fake paper tag had been removed. We zoomed in on the license plate and we
could see where the fake paper tag had been placed over of the real license
plate. HPD was notified of this
information and upon locating the Dodge back in the same area as the original
theft, had a short pursuit with the vehicle until it crashed. Two suspects were
taken into custody. The stolen SUV was recovered.
Then yesterday, we received a call of a theft from a
construction workers vehicle on Hunters Creek Drive. In less than 5 minutes we
had located the blue suspect vehicle on a nearby ALPR and could see the license
plate. Detectives went to the suspects home where the father of the suspect
told our personnel that his son drives the car in question and that he is a
3-time loser who was currently out on bond for previous burglaries and was
wearing an ankle bracelet. Our
detectives are currently in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for that
suspect. Great job of some quick work by
our team in both of these incidents.
And since I am talking about ALPR Cameras. Recently,
while working with the City of Houston, we were able to install a new ALPR
camera on Gessner on the south end of Bunker Hill Village. This new camera provides enhanced coverage
for hundreds of homes in both our jurisdiction and parts of Houston, especially
for residents living on Warrenton, Plantation, Stoney Creek, Valley Star and
Vanderpool. Our thanks and appreciation to Mayor Lord, City Manager Karen Glynn
and Houston Councilor Travis for getting this accomplished. The results are
already being realized.
UPDATE: I just received a call from our ALPR vendor
and another one of our new systems was just installed and turned on. This new ALPR is on Greenbay at Memorial
Drive. This is an area where we saw a gap in our coverage, and we are confident
this ALPR will help in resolving recent area mail thefts.
We have a couple annual parades coming up in the next
several weeks here in the Villages. Bunker Hill Elementary School will be
having a 5th grade walking parade down Strey (on the sidewalk) on
May 26, 2022. Memorial High School will have their 3rd Annual Senior
Parade on May 14, 2022, and the VIF 4th of July Parade will be held
on the 4th traveling down Piney Point Road. These are all great
events that are supported by our community. Plan now to show up and support our
graduates and of course celebrate our Nations Birthday on the 4th of
July.
St. Francis Episcopal School Color Run. This weekend
expect to see students from St. Francis running down N. Piney Point Road from
the school to Carol Tree Park and back, beginning at 12:30 pm. The event will be held on the new extra wide
sidewalk so the streets will not be impacted.
The fun run is the kickoff event for the Annual St. Francis Festival.
Upcoming RAD Classes: Our summer RAD class schedule is
now set and are expected to quickly fill up.
All classes will be held at Chapelwood United Methodist Church and held
from 10am – 2 pm. Dates for the classes are June 6-8, July 5-7 and/or August
1-3. If one of these sets of dates work
with your schedule, I encourage you to sign up quickly. Rape, Aggression,
Defense (RAD) classes will teach you how to better protect yourself and your
family. These classes are designed for
women ages (14+), in our summer programs we encourage young women who are going
off to college to attend. Mother daughter teams are always welcomed. Please contact Officer Michelle Owens at mowens@mvpdtx.org to save your spot. (PS, we provide snacks and
lunch)
Construction is coming. Starting June 1st,
2022, the next phase of our Bunker Hill Elementary Construction project begins.
This phase will be the tearing down of the old school. Believe it or not, there
is already a new school that has been built behind the existing structure. So,
the area will once again be fenced off and closed to the public. This includes
the pedestrian bridge on the south side of the school. Demolition is a very dangerous construction
project and safety is always our primary concern, so the area will be closed to
everyone. Please avoid the area, do not cross, or enter open gates and expect
lots of moving equipment and trucks in the area over the summer. Our new school
will be beautiful and ready to open in the Fall.
Center Point Scam. Residents are informing us that the
Center Point scam is back where someone calls or emails stating that your
Electric or Gas is going to be shut off within minutes due to non-payment. You
are then asked to call a phone number or to click on a link. Please remember that these are scams. Utility
companies provide ample notice before ever disconnecting services and of
course, do not take payment via gift cards.
Thanks to the resident who dropped off Astro’s tickets
for tomorrow’s game. We drew names for
the tickets and have some happy employees who will attending. Also, thanks for the 2 cases of Girl Scout
Cookies, they are being enjoyed by all.
Have a great weekend. Chief Ray Schultz rschultz@mvpdtx.org
Weekly Crime Report
Hunters Creek
4/16/22 at 1630 Hours. 10900 Block of Roaring Brook.
Identity Theft. The victim reported that
he was notified by his bank of someone attempting to open a line of credit
using his identity. The victim confirmed
that he had not applied for any new credit, so the account was not opened or
approved. When the victim asked for
information about the activity/attempted fraud, the bank refused to provide any
information to him. Officers initiated a
report and have forwarded it to detectives for their follow up investigation.
4/19/22 at 0715 Hours. 8400 Block of Hunters Creek
Drive. Burglary of a Vehicle. The victim reported that sometime during the
night unknown subject(s) entered her unlocked vehicle and rummaged through the
vehicle removing a work ID card. The victim stated that she has asked her
neighbors to review their video surveillance footage for any activity. Information about the theft was collected and
provided to detectives for their follow up investigation.
4/21/22 at 1430 Hours. 8400 Block of Hunters Creek
Drive. Theft from a Vehicle. Witnesses
observed a male subject in a blue car with no front license plate pull up to a
construction site, jump out of the car and grab a chop saw from the bed of a
worker’s pickup truck. As officers were
responding, other officers quickly checked the ALPR system and located the
suspects’ vehicle and the temporary license plate affixed to it. Detectives
went to the address of the owner of the vehicle and spoke to the suspect’s
father. He informed detectives that his
son drives the car and that, he had just had court the previous day for prior
burglaries. He said, his son was out on bond for 3 prior crimes and was wearing
an ankle bracelet. Detectives are in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant
for the suspect.
Piney Point
4/18/22 at 1500 Hours. 11300 Block of Greenbay.
Forgery. Upon checking his bank account, the victim found where a fake check
had been created, issued, and cashed by a subject that he did not know. The victim still has the check number unused
in his checkbook. Information was collected and provided to detectives for
their follow up investigation.
4/20/22 at 1500 Hours. 100 Block of Radney. Fraud. The
victim stated that as he was preparing to write a check, he checked his account
and saw that a check (and check number) he was preparing to write had already
been written and cashed. An inquiry into his bank account found that a fake
check had been created, issued and cashed. It is unknown how his information
had been accessed. Officers collected
information on the fraudulent check and provided that to detectives for their
follow up investigation.
Bunker Hill
4/22/22 at 1000 Hours. 300 Block of Gessner. Recovered
Stolen Vehicle. Officers were alerted to a stolen vehicle traveling on Gessner
Road. Officers were nearby and quickly
located and stopped the vehicle. Officers learned and verified that the victim
was able to track the commercial vehicle and had just located and recovered it
from a location up near the Katy Freeway. MVPD notified HPD of the recovery and
cleared the vehicle from the stolen vehicle database.
