Two Houston police cars reported missing, Stolen or misplaced?
Security Fears Raised.

Copyright 2002 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle, TX... 07/06/2002
PEGGY O'HARE

Car 54, where are you?

New York police were always looking for the mythical Car 54 in a
TV comedy series popular in the 1960s.

Now, Houston police are looking for Car 27209 and Car 29121, for real.

The Houston Police Department doesn't know what happened to the marked 
patrol cars, discovered missing last month from HPD Central parking 
garage, officials said Friday.

Police don't know if the cars were stolen or simply misplaced 
because of an inventory snafu. But the disappearance has raised 
security concerns among officers wary of police vehicles falling 
into the wrong hands.

"I think it's caught us all by surprise," said Hans Marticiuc, 
president of the Houston Police Officers Union. "It's a concern,
if they're actually missing, that someone could get into the garage 
and have such easy access that they could not only take the cars,
but possible do things to other vehicles that officers are 
driving."

If the cars were stolen, there's the frightening possibility that
they could be used by criminals or by someone impersonating a
police officer, Marticiuc said.

"That kind of stuff comes back on all of us. The uniforms - a 
similar type uniform is very easy to get." he said.

The disappearance of the police cars is now being jointly 
investigated by HPD's Internal Affairs and Criminal 
Intelligence divisions.

The mystery is an unusual one. Marticiuc said he cannot recall 
such an event in his 22 years with HPD.

"It doesn't routinely come up," said Lt. Brian Lumpkin of Criminal 
Intelligence Division, an office that investigates missing police
equipment.

The cars, both marked HPD units with lights and sirens were
discovered missing June 21 when a fleet administrator was
ordered to do a complete walk through inspection of the HPD 
Central parking garage at 61 Riesner. He reported the vehicles
could not be found.

The cars, both Ford Crown Victorias, are 1999 and 1997 models.
They were supposed to be on the garage's third floor, where
marked HPD Central's patrol cars are parked in assigned spaces. 
Keys are issued to an officer only when the car is signed out
through the patrol equipment database, and all cars are supposed
to be locked before officers return the keys.

"We have a standard lockup procedure that officers should be 
following," Lumpkin said. "Any property belonging to the city, 
have an obligation to secure it as best we can - and if not, 
(officers) can be disciplined for that.

It is possible that an inventory mistake is to blame, HPD spokesman 
Robert Hurst said, if the police cars were put out of serve and 
salvaged, but the action was not properly recorded.

Older patrol cars are being phased out of HPD's fleet, and both
of the missing cars - especially the 1997 model - would have been
considered old, officers said.

But police also cannot rule out the possibility that the cars were 
stolen. Hurst said.

The HPD Central garage is not under 24-hour watch, police said.

"Is it under constant guard? No," said HPD Central staff supervisor 
Sgt. Jim Stowe. "Is access screened where you can't drive up and
down? No."

Police records a how the cars were last fueled by officers at city 
gas pumps on April 2 and 3, Stowe said. Two weeks before they vanished,
the tides received extended maintenance service, then were supposedly 
returned to the HPD Central division fleet he said.

Even more curious is that both police cars have mobile data 
computer terminals, and according to HPD's tracking systems,
neither computer terminal has been activated.

No disciplinary action has been taken against any HPD personnel
for the missing vehicles, Hurst said Friday.

With security concerns heightened since Sept.11. police said there
is no indication that the missing police cars might have fallen
into terrorists' hands.

"There is no intelligence coming to us that there is a terrorism
link related to this at all," Lumpkin said.

"We're anxious to track down where they're at, whether they were 
stolen or it's an administrative snafu," he said.


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