FAQ: Public Safety
Patrol Services
Q: If a District can’t provide or supplant services of the city, how can it pay for public safety patrols, street sweeping, street light reporting, graffiti abatement, a county attorney and mobile camera programs?
A: A District can provide services that are “enhancements” to city services. Typically, a city will have limits to the amount of funding that can be devoted to a specific service area such as public safety. Management districts are special purpose districts that collect an assessment from commercial properties within the zone (district). The assessments are used to provide enhanced services such as public safety, street light reporting, graffiti abatement, county attorney and mobile camera programs.
Q: What does the Montrose District do to help reduce crime?
A: The District has a dedicated Public Safety and Security program comprised of HPD officers called the Montrose District Patrol. They are proactive and responsive to suspicious situation and make arrests as appropriate.
The officers have relationships with and work closely with the large commercial property owners/managers in the area including multi-family communities and retail stores and banks. Additionally, they inspect parked vehicles using Burglary of a Motor Vehicle (BMV) report cards and provide other crime prevention material to local retail and commercial businesses. They also provide crime prevention presentations and conduct Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) surveys whenever needed.
Q: How many officers work for the District?
A: There are 16 Houston Police Offices that work part-time for the District and commonly referred to as the Montrose District Patrol.
Q: What are the hours of the patrol?
A: The Montrose District Patrol work an average of 580 hours per month primarily focused during those times having more activity.
Q: Why are the patrol cars not marked?
A: The District provides for three (3) patrol vehicles. One of the vehicles is permanently “marked” as a police vehicle. The other two use magnetic signage denoting them as police vehicles as well. However, some issues facing Montrose have typically required some level of stealth and, therefore, to address them required that our additional security sometimes be “hidden”. We realize that it is important for the community to recognize the presence of this added service. For that reason, we are amending the program to more frequently use highly-visible, marked vehicles.
