HOUSTON -- A recent rise in violent crimes in the Westchase District has residents upset and blaming Hurricane Katrina evacuees, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

About 1,700 residents attended a meeting at Grace Presbyterian Church on Wednesday to discuss the spike with the mayor and police chief.

"It would be reasonable and logical to think, yes, Katrina evacuees have been involved," resident Becky Madray said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said about 3,000 evacuees live in the Westchase District's 77082 zip code, one of the highest concentrations in the city.

Mayor Bill White said there was no way to stop people involved in crime from coming to the area.

"There is no screening that could be done to ensure that only the law-abiding came," White said. "What we can do is make sure that our laws are enforced when people are here."

Many evacuees said they feel they are being blamed for something they are not responsible for.

"Why should we get judged on because our city was a murder capital before a person gets to know us," evacuee Donnette Patterson said.

"Yeah, I'm mad that they're blaming us," evacuee Lorielle Giddens said.

Giddens said she has heard Houstonians make comments about evacuees

"They going to be glad when we go back over there. I just deal with it," she said.

White warned that people's attitudes about evacuees could cause more problems.

"Us versus them is always a bad state of mind to get into," White said. "People do it out of habit, but most of us know that not everybody that was living in Houston before the evacuation was law-abiding."

The Houston Police Department is adding 140 officers to the area to combat violent crimes.