MISSION STATEMENT: The mission of the
Houston Police Department Robbery Division is to impact the robbery rate by
providing the citizens of Houston with a prompt and effective investigation
response to all classifications of robberies, theft from persons, and extortion
cases.
Definitions:
Robbery: A person commits an offense
if, in the course of committing theft and with the intent to obtain or maintain
control of the property, he: intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes
bodily injury to another; or intentionally knowingly threatens or places
another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death. An offense under this
section is a felony of the second degree.
Aggravated Robbery: A person commits an
offense if he commits robbery and he: causes serious bodily injury to another;
uses or exhibits a deadly weapon; or causes bodily injury to another person or
threatens or places another person in fear of imminent bodily injury or death,
if the other person is: 65 years of age or older; or a disabled person. An offense
under this section is a felony of the first degree. In this section, “disabled
person” means an individual with a mental, physical, or developmental
disability who is substantially unable to protect himself from harm.
Theft From Person: A person commits an
offense if he unlawfully appropriates property with intent to deprive the owner
of the property. A state jail felony if: regardless of value, the property is
stolen from the person of another or from a human corpse or grave.
Capital Murder: A person commits an
offense if the person commits murder in the course of committing or attempting
to commit robbery. This is punishable by the death penalty.
The Robbery Division is responsible
for conducting all follow up and some scene investigations involving robbery,
aggravated robbery, extortion and theft from persons. This includes the
identification, charging, apprehension and processing of suspects as well as
the recovery of property and testimony in court.
The Robbery Division is operational
from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week and has on call investigators
that can make the scenes of the more serious robberies at any other times.
Operationally, the Robbery Division is divided into 6 functional investigative
units. There are 4 traditional investigative squads organized by geographic
area and Violent Offenders Squad, which is responsible for investigating crimes of a more violent nature..
The Robbery Division also provides
investigators to the Houston Area Bank Robbery Task Force, which investigates
crimes against financial institutions.
