thetragichippy Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 Starting Feb. 17, officers will no longer be dispatched for certain minor offenses, including minor assaults, auto burglaries, criminal mischief, forgery and fraud. That sure sounds like a gift for folks that like breaking into vehicles...... This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Quote
5GallonBucket Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 How do you know if it’s a minor assault without showing up. i need a definition @tvc184 Quote
tvc184 Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 10 minutes ago, 5GallonBucket said: How do you know if it’s a minor assault without showing up. i need a definition @tvc184 I don’t work for BPD!!!! 🤣🤣🤣 It’s really not hard and much ado about nothing but it sure has people up in arms. Texas Assault (unlike some other states) is kind of an all inclusive law. What some states call battery, Texas calls an assault. A battery in Texas starts your car or runs your cell phone. Levels of Assault (not Aggravated Assault) in Texas are a threat like I am going to kick your butt. Also an Assault is an offensive contact that the actor reasonably knows will be offensive or provocative but no injury. An example might be patting a waitress on the butt or poking a person’s chest while arguing. These are Class C offenses or the equivalent of a traffic citation. So if a person calls and tells a dispatcher that his neighbor came over and threatened to beat him up but left and didn’t do anything, that is an assault. When I was on patrol we would never take such a report even if dispatched. We would refer them to the front desk of the police station to fill out paperwork to be forwarded to the city prosecutor (City version of the DA). So no injuries and no ongoing disturbance. An Assault with injuries, which includes as little as feeling pain, is a class A Assault for up to a year in jail and it is not included in this new policy. Basically what they are doing now is what I did for 15 years on Patrol but now they’re saying you can call in the report or do it online instead of driving to the police station. Much ado about nothing…… thetragichippy 1 Quote
tvc184 Posted February 5 Report Posted February 5 And to make sure of the understanding, if a caller says somebody slapped him on the face, and it left a red mark and a slight scratch and another caller said he has a bloody nose and a blackeye, those are both assaults that could be prosecuted by the district attorney and state law requires a police report. The red mark and scratch might seem minor as compared to the bloody nose and black eye but they both assaults with injuries and require a police report. The difference between minor and not minor is an injury no matter how slightly injury is. If a caller tells the dispatcher, my ex-girlfriend‘s current boyfriend came over and told me to quit shopping at the store where she works or he’s going to beat me up and he left 20 minutes ago. So no injuries and the disturbance and the suspect are gone. Get online and file your own report and probably meet after about a week with the city prosecutor to see if they can issue a warrant or if there’s enough probable cause for an arrest. There is really no need to tie up a police officer to pass on the exact same information. Quote
tvc184 Posted February 6 Report Posted February 6 The responses on the KBMT Facebook page are hilarious. Reading comprehension is apparently a thing of the past. Quote
thetragichippy Posted February 6 Author Report Posted February 6 4 hours ago, tvc184 said: The responses on the KBMT Facebook page are hilarious. Reading comprehension is apparently a thing of the past. In my defense either the media or police changed their wording. Example - they went from claiming they would not respond to minor assaults and auto burglaries, to they would not respond to cold reports or burglaries/minor assaults after the perps have left. I still don't see how announcing auto burglaries are a "minor offense" is helpful. LumRaiderFan 1 Quote
tvc184 Posted February 7 Report Posted February 7 7 hours ago, thetragichippy said: In my defense either the media or police changed their wording. Example - they went from claiming they would not respond to minor assaults and auto burglaries, to they would not respond to cold reports or burglaries/minor assaults after the perps have left. I still don't see how announcing auto burglaries are a "minor offense" is helpful. Burglary of Vehicle is a misdemeanor that basically like shoplifting except the DA only has to prove entry into the vehicle with intent to steal (like rummaging through the glove box and console) and not that they actually got something. So if a person called the police and said I went to bed at 10 PM and went outside at 8 AM and somebody had entered my vehicle, I have no clue who it is or when it happened. There is really nothing to follow up on. I haven’t seen where BPD said not to call. If a person calls, like always the dispatcher will ask a series of questions and based on those answers, determine whether to send an officer to speak with the caller in person or to go online. I was talking about the crazy stuff said, not someone asking for clarification. You probably saw some of the comments like we now need to start carrying guns and make our own arrests, what happens when someone gets shot or other such nonsense? A person is sleeping all night and wakes up at 7AM and finds that their child’s bicycle was stolen off of the front porch, what good is carrying a gun around? I suggest that most people will be able to defend themselves and be armed if they wish but for BPD to say we’re not responding to a minor crime when it is an unknown suspect and it happened two or three hours ago has nothing to do with some of the crazy comments. Quote
SmashMouth Posted February 7 Report Posted February 7 On 2/5/2025 at 5:01 PM, tvc184 said: Much ado about nothing…… Can't say I agree. It's a barometer of the criminal climate in Beaumont. Quote
tvc184 Posted February 7 Report Posted February 7 1 minute ago, SmashMouth said: Can't say I agree. It's a barometer of the criminal climate in Beaumont. That’s a different but valid topic. Forty years ago if a person called the police because someone had made a threat but had already left, the officer would say if you wish to file charges and can go to the police station to do so yourself. Now BPD instead of dispatching an officer to say go to the police station to fill out your own paperwork, they are allowed to say on the phone, you can go online and fill out your own complaint instead of having to drive to the police station. As far as a misdemeanor entering a vehicle to steal something, an officer will show up and write down a person’s name, DOB, address, phone number, etc., and then list anything that the person says is missing along with serial numbers. Then the officer will have to take time to move the same information from his note pad to an official report form. Now a person can go online and put in the exact same information, probably saving over an hour of police work. The only change is not taking up an officer’s time to do nothing but explain and simply saying the same information in the phone. That is much ado about nothing. A good solution might be to add about 65 more patrol officers which “might” add an additional three officers to the street for each shift. That could have a huge impact on response times. The problem is that the city would need about another $10,000,000 added to the budget. A city size of Beaumont is probably not real keen on adding $10 million to their budget. If you want to discuss high crime and response times in Beaumont and why this new policy might help, that could be an interesting topic. It might be a barometer of a more serious issue but the policy seems like a valid response. Basically no one will notice a difference except maybe the police might get to a scene a minute earlier. Quote
baddog Posted February 7 Report Posted February 7 I thought auto burglary was considered breaking and entering, which is a felony. When did it become a misdemeanor? Quote
tvc184 Posted February 8 Report Posted February 8 7 hours ago, baddog said: I thought auto burglary was considered breaking and entering, which is a felony. When did it become a misdemeanor? About 30 years ago……. Quote
baddog Posted February 10 Report Posted February 10 On 2/7/2025 at 9:35 PM, tvc184 said: About 30 years ago……. Yeah, I remember that. Lol. It should still be a felony. Quote
thetragichippy Posted February 10 Author Report Posted February 10 On 2/7/2025 at 1:35 PM, tvc184 said: If you want to discuss high crime and response times in Beaumont and why this new policy might help, that could be an interesting topic. I would like to hear from your perspective what could be done (that is not being done) in Port Arthur and Beaumont to get crime down below the state average. THAT would be a good topic.:) tvc184 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.