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Police officer in New Orleans.
QUESTION
You are a police officer in New Orleans. During the flood following Hurricane Katrina, you are ordered to patrol a section of the downtown area to prevent looting. The water is waist high in some places, and sections of blocks are, for the most part, inundated with floodwater. You come upon one shop where the plate glass window has been broken, and about a dozen people are coming out of the shop with clothing in their arms. The stores’ contents will be written off anyway by the owners and covered by insurance. Should that make a difference in your decision? What if the store was in an area of the city that wasn’t flooded and the contents were not ruined? What if the people said they were desperate and didn’t have any clothes because their belongings were under water? What if the items being taken were televisions and other electronics?
| Subject | Law and governance | Pages | 2 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Punishment for Hurricane Harvey Looters
This paper discusses the Texas enhancement law punishment that applies to Hurricane Harvey looters during this disaster period. To stop likely looters, the Houston Police Department improved their security efforts by enforcing a midnight to 5 am curfew and enhancing penalties for wrongdoings performed in the disaster region. In Texas, the state boosts punishments for wrongdoings comprising robbery, shoplifting, and burglary if they are done in a county that has been declared a disaster area. Hence, this implies that burglarizing a home under typical conditions is castigated by two to twenty years in jail and could now bring a penalty of five years of prison time (Eisenbaum, 2017). In Texas, there is no criminal charge named shoplifting. Rather, when burglaries, shopliftings, robberies, and assaults occur in declared disaster regions, the penalties can be tougher. It is termed as enhancement charge. For instance, if a burglary was charged as a second degree, it can be enhanced to a first degree. Two to twenty years of sentences are substituted with five to ninety-nine-year sentences.
The Youtube video shows a chaotic scene of people robbing a business on the floodwaters. Three hundred and twenty persons are accused of looting during the Harris Harvey. As per the District Attorney’s office, the alleged crimes comprise shoplifting businesses and stealing an ATM. From the case study as a police officer, I will still arrest the looters even when the store's contents will be written-off, and insurance has covered for it. This is because Texas had enhancement laws that are implanted during disaster periods like this, and those looters should be imprisoned for theft. No excuse justifies stealing even if the looters defend themselves that they never had clothes. The Texas Penal Code Title seven-chapter thirty-one outlines that an individual commits a theft crime if he illegally appropriates property to deprive the property owner. The looters targeted tools, electronics, and anything dry, and if the store was in a city without floods, the looters would still be sentenced. One would be charged with burglary because they are entering someone's property without their consent.
References
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Eisenbaum, J. (November 14, 2017). These 20 People are Accused of Looting during Hurricane Harvey. Retrieved from https://www.click2houston.com/news/2017/11/14/these-20-people-are-accused-of-looting-during-hurricane-harvey/ KPRC 2 Click2Houston (May 21, 2018). Punishment for Hurricane Harvey Looters. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpLPrfJyG6M
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