Cities throughout the nation broke their record homicide rates last year, and Houston saw a 71 percent increase in homicides from 2019 to 2021.
As crime soars, law enforcement in the Houston area had a deadly stretch last week with three officers killed, another three shot, and a K9 stabbed.
Amid these tragedies, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez released a memo to all Harris County sheriff’s office staff on Monday, asking that they “always be respectful of employee’s [sic] pronouns and gender identity.”
“As we all know too well, law enforcement face more than public concerns. Law enforcement also deal with additional stress leading to physical and mental health anxieties. Now, imagine carrying the added emotional burden of having to suppress who you are because it does not conform to society’s norms regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The letter then insists that the only proper response to a coworker informing you of their transgender status is communication of immediate support.
In the event of meeting a new coworker, the letter advises that employees share their own name and pronouns before asking the new employee for their preferred pronouns.
Lastly, the letter directs all questions and concerns to the PREA/LGBTQI manager.
Houston talk radio host Kenny Webster tweeted his disgust:
ICYMI – Houston currently leads the nation in homocides so our local law enforcement leadership have decided to focus their efforts on… pronouns for trans officers. pic.twitter.com/UuYEGfoT4L
— Kenny Webster (@KennethRWebster) February 2, 2022
Meanwhile, Sheriff Gonzalez and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo unveiled their new “Clean Street, Safe Neighborhoods” plan this morning. The plan intends to target abandoned buildings and dark streets for revitalization in order to deter crime.
The Houston-metro area scored a D on the data-tracking site Crime Grade, and on average, a crime occurs every minute. Comparatively, the Austin-metro area maintains a crime grade of C, with a crime occurring on average every eight minutes.
Former Texas GOP Chairman and current candidate for Texas governor Allen West blames the progressive policies of Houston’s district attorneys and calls for the impeachment of activist judges more concerned with ideology than public safety.
Under Gov Abbott, TX cities are becoming centers of crime & violence. Impeaching activist judges who release violent repeat offenders needs to occur. Abbott is abdicating his responsibility and allowing law and order to collapse from Houston to the border. https://t.co/arNHU95n8y
— Allen West (@AllenWest) January 27, 2022
2/ I remain committed to holding judges and DAs responsible for releasing violent criminals back onto the streets. As Governor West, the rule of law and law and order will be restored. We will protect Texans and our Texas law enforcement officers.
— Allen West (@AllenWest) January 27, 2022
