HOUSTON – In a series of New Year’s Day tweets, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner praised the city’s police force for a lower homicide rate in 2017.
Turner said that Houston ended the year with a total of 269 homicides, which is down 33 from 2016 and the lowest in three years. He highlighted the fact that there were 701 homicides in Houston in 1981.
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.@HoustonTX ended 2017 at a 3-year-low 269 murders, down 33 from 2016. (It was 701 in 1981!) Every life is precious; let's make 2018 even safer! Thanks to the public and @houstonpolice.
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) January 2, 2018
Turner followed that tweet with another that pointed out the decreased homicide rate was achieved despite the Police Department being understaffed.
Despite being significantly understaffed, Houston police officers perform over and above. The murder rate for 2017 is the lowest in 3 years.
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) January 2, 2018
The mayor ended the series with a third tweet that thanked Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and every officer for a great job.
Thank you Chief Art Acevedo, your command staff and every police officer for doing a great job for all of us. st
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) January 2, 2018