Greg Fremin - Retired HPD Captain Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, So what's a nuisance nuisance crime? That's the question.
Houston County DA Shawn Tira has announced the creation of
a Mental Health and Division Bureau and they are not
going to prosecute nuisance criminal cases to mental health service providers.
So are they going to refer them to the mental
health service providers? What does that all look like? Joining
us now is retired Houston Police Captain Greg Freeman.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Greg good morning, Hey Bob, good morning, and thanks for
having me.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, good to have you. I appreciate it. So, you know,
I can think of what a nuisance is. I can
think a lot of nuisances, but I think of crimes.
I don't know if I put them in that category.
What's a nuisance crime?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, that's that's a good question, and that would be
my greatest concern. And first, let me just say this,
I applaud the DA for wanting to do something creative
to try to lessen the burden of the criminal justice system,
because it is a burden system. Can we do things better?
And that's one thing is practitioners that we always try
to see, how can we do this better? But this
is a very concerning issue. When you start talking about

(00:59):
not prosecute certain types of crimes. And I would really
like to know more about what is a nuisance crime.
I have my own definition of nuisance crimes, and these
are crimes like criminal misschiefs, assault and battery, loud noise,
trust testing, doing other things under the disorderly conduct statutes

(01:19):
that you can go to jail for or get a ticket.
So I'd like to know exactly what their actual crimes
are that they're targeting. And I know they mentioned two
of them in particular from the article that I read
that was criminal mischief and I believe trespassing, and I've
got concerns about that.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
How much more difficult does this look the job of
a Houston police officer?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Well, it does because I mean you've got offers that
are out there running and gunning twenty four to seven.
They are getting these calls for all of these types
of crimes, and to no avail. If they know that
they're going to be going out there getting a call
for servers for someone trespassing on somebody's property, they go
out there doing investigation, making arrest and it's a legitimate
crime and the guy needs to go to jail. Fender

(02:00):
needs to go to jail for what they were doing.
And the DA's aren't going to take charges on this
because it's considered a new SUCHE crime and they're going
to refirm from mental health evaluation. Then it's a total
waste of time for law enforcement for doing this right now.
So it's going to be very concerning, and I'm sure
the police departments are looking into this well for what
they're going to do if they implement this.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Let's talk about what that means going to jail in
Harris County. The DA called the Harris County jail a
humanitarian crisis and said that his office will lower the
jail population quote one way or another end quote. What
does that mean?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, that's those are very strong words, and I understand
what he's saying. The jail is overpopulated, and it is
and it has been for quite some time. And I
don't know the actual population count, but we have one
of the largest county jails in the United States. And
lowering the county jail means you're gonna let You're going
to let offenders out, You're going to get them out earlier.
They're going to start cutting a lot more plea deals

(02:53):
in court instead of sending people a county jail or
state jail peenonies. And that's very concerning at the same
time because now you're talking, I'm not releasing these defenders,
back them to the streets. So there is a public
safety concern that I would echo on that.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Would there be any concern that you have greg of
you know, individuals who may be more prime to encounter
a prone to encounter law enforcement, meaning troublemakers and people
who have maybe I have a record going to therapists
and doctors and getting you know, diagnoses with mental health conditions,
thus preventing them from being prosecuted later on when they
decide to commit their next crime.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Absolutely, and let me I'll be very careful when I
say this. There's a vast amount of criminals that are
out there that are suffering from some type of mental illness.
We know that, But does that make them, you know,
totally absolve from any criminal activity. They are competent to
stand trial, they know right from wrong. But when you
start opening up that door and allowing inmates and allowing

(03:50):
offenders to go and get mental health therapy opposed to
criminal prosecution, it does create a very slippery slope for
further prosecutions later on downline, because they can always pulled
that car saying well, you know, I was under mental
health dress at the time that I, you know, went
in there and committed an aggravated robbery or carjacking. I
didn't know what I was doing at the time. Yeah,

(04:10):
that ends up a very slippery slope, it does.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
I get that. And this is in Texas, but I
just want to get your commentary on it, because in Illinois,
three lawmakers have co sponsored a bill that would remove
the charge of aggravated battery from individuals who attack cops
if they have a mental health diagnosis. It's going to
send according to some, it's going to send the course
of these people you know, running to like I said too,

(04:33):
psychiatrists and doctors getting a diagnosis so that if they
beat up a cop, they can't be held liable for
they're least prosecuted on the battery charge.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I read that, and that's one of the most insane
policy acts or recommendations for a legislation that I've ever
read before. And the Democratic lawmaker is such a woke
individual and far left that is anti police, that wrote that.
So that's crazy, that's that's very concerning for public safety

(05:01):
when you start doing that, and that incentivizes criminals out
there to attack the police when you start when you
start encouraging laws like that to be written on the books.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, and police officers aren't going to take those attacks lightly.
They're going to defend themselves and that's not going to
go well for anybody. And I don't know if they
realize that.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Absolutely. And let me just say this, at the end
of the day, when someone picks up the phone and
calls nine when one because the menace is coming your
way and there's a threat, it's the men and women
that where the uniforms are going there that stand in
between goodness and evil and they are the protectors. And
that's what people need to understand. And most most Americans
do understand that, but you still have a small percentage
that could care less one way or the other.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Absolutely right. Greg Freeman, retired HPD Captain, Thank you so
much for the insights we appreciate.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Okay, by, thank you