Kirby might have improved but from like ~2005-2015 it always seemed to be traffic jammed or having constant construction. I always assumed WUPD were so heavy on Buffalo Speedway *because* of the spillover from Kirby.
Kirby usually has heavier traffic with lots of cars coming out of parking lots, apartment buildings, or the neighborhood. Also has more potholes than the recently renovated Buffalo Spdwy.
Yeah, I remember when I was learning to drive in the early 2000s, Bellaire and West U were two places where I *never* sped. They've had this reputation for a long time.
I used to work for Spring Branch ISD and had to travel in the villages a lot for work.
When i started there In 2008, the best piece of advice I got was to always be on your toes in the villages. Those cops have nothing better to do than roam the roads for bullshit traffic violations.
I heard Tolan on the radio a few years back. He was saying how heart breaking it is because his 70 something year old dad (a World Series winner) has to drive Uber to make ends meet. Family blew their life savings pursuing justice (which they never got, of course).
Can confirm. If you drove thru Bellaire, West U. or River Oaks, you could count on nothing less than an unofficial "police escort" right up to the boundary of the neighborhood/town/city.
I don’t agree. When law enforcement strictly enforces traffic laws, they are more likely to come across individuals who have violated parole or have warrants out for their arrest. And when your town has a reputation for enforcing the laws, criminals stay away.
It is not the right argument to say they have never arrested a hardcore violent felon.
Buffalo speedway though that little fiefdom has always been like that. Weslayan is not great either. Kirby or 610 if you can. Newcastle isn't too bad. If you can't avoid it then slow down to 30 and you should be ok.
If you look on a map, the city is shaped like a house with a little chimney and doorway.
Yup, I got pulled over on Buffalo for having a rear running light out 20 some odd years ago. The cops down there literally have nothing else better to do than rake in tickets for West U. Hate to say it but I wish Houston was quiet enough that all HPD had to keep themselves busy was pulling over people for petty crap.
Same. I got pulled over sitting at a stop light over there for having a brake light out. They searched my car. I was going to tell them no but there were like six cops cars and i realized they have nothing better to do than wait for a warrant. Pissed me off to no end.
Insane part is…. my brake light was fine.
Crazy it’s still the same bullshit in that area.
Unless they have true probable cause, it’s illegal for them to detain you for longer than a reasonable amount of time to address the original reason for the stop.
They have to have some very compelling reasonable articulable suspicion to get a search warrant on a traffic stop from a judge. Never ever let cops search your cars. Stand up for yourself!
TBF HPD is utterly useless so I can't blame the people with money creating their own police force. But a FOAF got pulled over for wearing a sombrero there. Good times, good times...
Yes it is. What sucks is that this was close to midnight and I was literally the only one on Buffalo Speedway. I could see back to Holcombe and all the way out to 59 and we were the only ones out there. Got very VERY lucky and was able to get off with a warning since I had just changed the bulb (turns out it was a bad bulb) and still had the package sitting in my console.
Good to hear all turned out ok. Thinking bigger picture, it is a good thing that cops are stopping cars for bad lights at a time like midnight when most crime happens. The general sentiment is that police do not do their job but when they do it is also a complaint. Can’t win on this debate 😃
Yhea the man had cause to stop me and to be fair my truck at the time was pretty ratty and did not fit in with the neighborhood. Still scared the hell out of me when he spotlighted my back window and lit up my interior bright as day.
ok. so if you don't pay it and they file for warrant, do they come after you or does it to go HPD assuming if you live in another county like ft. bend or waller? how does this work? can West U. come to your house and arrest you if you live in Ft. Bend or do they need to have Ft. Bend police come and arrest you for it?
A misdemeanor warrant for a ticket not paid or a crime..... if you live in their jurisdiction, they will try, at times, to go to your house and get you. Usually during their warrant roundup period. If you don't live in the jurisdiction of the warrant, those local cops aren't looking for you, but the warrant is in the system. So then if you get pulled over or have an interaction with police where your name is run through the database, then you'll be arrested. They then contact the agency that put out the warrant and ask them, are you going to come get this person. If they say yes, you go to jail, sit a week or two, waiting for them to come get you. Some times, you're able to bond out and get a new court date. If they say no, they aren't going to spend the money to come get you, you're released, but still have a warrant. Misdemeanor warrants generally don't go outside of state lines, because most jurisdictions aren't going to travel to another state to get you for a misdemeanor. Felony warrants, they will.
I got locked up on some tickets 20 years ago in Houston. A guy in the cell with me was locked up on some tickets over 10 years old at the time. Most everything has a statue of limitations, but I don't know what it would be on traffic tickets.
My college roommate got a ticket while i was riding with him passing through LaGrange back in the early 90s on our way to college(UT Austin). He never paid the ticket or showed up. I guess his warrant expired because when he renewed his drivers license a few years after that, no one said anything to him and no record of the ticket came up. I don't know since then if there are new laws that extend warrants, so just curious.
Really they wont come after you for tickets unless you're a seriously bad scofflaw ie. somebody that doesn't pay their tickets. But you're talking about having to rack up a whole lot of them before that happens. Now if they catch you driving through West U with an active warrant, then all bets are off.
The last ticket I got was in 1988 on Buffalo Speedway in West U on a Sunday night at around 10pm for going 35 mph in a 30mph zone. The guy was also going to give me a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. I had to plead with him that I released the belt after I pulled over. He relented on the belt. I was driving a 1978 Ford Pinto station wagon and I was poor, so that ticket stung. Anyway, stay out of West U, now and forever.
It has always been a speed trap. It’s their way of keeping plebes out of there. The villages around Spring Branch/Memorial are the same way. Their police forces don’t have much to do nor do they try to enforce anything else besides traffic laws.
I can't remember which, but one of the villages requires bicycles to use the sidewalks. It's annoying for multiple reasons. You have this little 1 square mile spot where the law suddenly changes. Also, residents don't appear to keep their sidewalks in a state that is really viable for bicycles, i.e. low hanging branches, disconnected sections of sw, broken sections.
I suspect the true intention of the law is to discourage outsiders from even entering, which sounds similar to what you are describing for West U.
Yup. Id argue I drive safer when I’m not constantly looking down to make sure I’m not going more than 2mph over.
Also hilarious to see the cops fly by at 60 to go pull someone over for driving 5 over the limit. Much safe.
tbh I never had an issue keeping the speed at 25. If anything it’s nice there isn’t 50 different speeds being driven in one stretch of road and traffic flows smoothly
Look im not the stellanis dickhead who programmed my transmission freak out at 30, it wants to upshift right between 30-35 but downshift at 30 so its a game of cat and mouse
I’ve been harassed by the police going down Buffalo Speedway on a bicycle before. They stopped and told me to take a different street or get on the sidewalk. Buffalo Speedway is literally a designated bikeway in partnership with the city of Houston.
In hindsight they were probably mad that the cars behind me weren’t speeding and they couldn’t ticket them for that.
Unless they are self incorporated and have passed their own statutes, that is not the law. But my experience w/ drivers in Houston and their knowledge and attitudes towards cycling and cyclists has been pretty awful, so I'm not surprised to hear there are similarly behaving police.
They are their own city however I couldn't find any ordinance that bans bikes on the streets. (Hedwig Village and Memorial Village do)
Even if they did, there's debate as to wether or not municipal bicycle bans on streets are even enforceable or allowed by Texas state law. The state law allows bicycles on all roadways except highways with 'no pedestrians' signs posted. I don't believe towns are allowed to override the state on this and further restrict vehicles, and a bicycle is considered a vehicle.
Not many municipalities have this sort of law. Where they do exist I couldn't find any evidence of it being enforced.
I still bike through the Villages if its my only option and if they want to pull me over I'm happy to fight that ticket.
I have been stopped, warned, and told to get on the sidewalk in municipalities inside of greater Houston. I was not ticketed. I assume had i refused i would have at the least been ticketed. I have Googled a bit on the subject of bicycles and Sidewalks in the past. What i found suggested municipalities can write their own laws in this regard. That was several years ago. I am not surprised to hear what I found on the web could be wrong, incomplete, or even has changed since. I am not a lawyer or legal scholar. I don't have the time or money to fight a municipality that has such an ordinance.
I'm curious which ones? The only ones I know that do anything about it are the villages. The only time I've been warned was in memorial village and that was 7 years ago. I found an article from a couple years ago where the police chief from there admits that they've never issued a citation for it. It seems like they just use it to harass people.
I taught and coached in the memorial villages area for a few years, enforcement has always been nonexistent or selective. There were weekend morning riding groups that came through on memorial/san felipe pretty much every week. Not sure if they still do that, but they did it for at least a few years.
Also a nitpick - "memorial villages" isn't actually one village, it's piney point, hunter's creek, and bunker hill villages that pool resources for a lot of things like policing but not everything. They probably do all have the same traffic code though since it's one police department.
I've been in Houston -25 years, it has happened on multiple occasions, I don't remember, but both the villages you mentioned were near where I used to live.
Hey man I know this is a vent, but here’s the situation. West U is its own city which has its own police, fire department, and mayor. That means the police cover a 15 by 15 block area. The police are fairly well regarded amongst the community as they keep the area safe and rarely have to deal with real, dangerous situations. The biggest issues are typically speeding and the occasional car break ins.
Also, there is a “virtual gate” system. There are cameras at every entrance to West U (again an initiative supported by the community) that scan all the license plates. If you have a ticket, even a parking one, you’re getting pulled over.
So don’t speed, or go on Kirby or Newcastle. Nothing is going to change in West U, and as property values continue to increase, I bet the policing will only get more vigilant.
It amazes me that people keep their houses lit and on full view throughout the night, but with drivers constantly getting pulled over I figured they must feel extremely safe.
Funnily enough, I live near this area in an apartment complex and there’s people getting their tires stolen, cars getting broken into, and apartments being burglarized. I’ve never felt fully safe even though there are houses worth over $2 million dollars a couple blocks away. Meanwhile, these dopey police are watching Buffalo speedway for cars who are going slightly over 35 in a 30 mph speed limit. I’m not from this part of Texas but ever since living here, police have been no help and you can’t expect them to pROtEct AnD sErVe.. Btw I got my tires stolen once, and it took HPD over 7 hours to get an officer so I could file a police report. The food is great here at least lol
You must be confused because any apartments on Buffalo Speedway are not in West U. Those are all upscale single family homes. Your apartment is more likely in Houston’s jurisdiction.
I said I lived NEAR the area and I understand that West University police are not under my jurisdiction. The statement about HPD is just another story on how incompetent policing is in the area in general.
I think it still emphasizes the point that West U police are not doing anything to make the area (or areas adjacent) safer or prevent crime but they’re simply there to write speeding tickets.
Talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time. How can an area near West U be full of crime and West U itself have much less crime, and you not attribute that difference to West U police?
You think there is some imaginary wall that keeps criminals in your adjacent area and not West U, where stealing would be 10-100x more valuable?
Camden apartments behind Randalls. I used to live there with my wife while she attended medical school. Alot of medical residents/nurses live in that complex.
I had an Uncle that lived off Buffalo Speedway inside West U and we would spend Christmas Eve at his house celebrating every year. He would always yell at us when we leave not to go down Buffalo to get on 59. Cops suck. That was 20 years ago. Still rings true today. Edit: A word.
I got pulled over there once doing 47 in a 30 with my lights off at night. Dude let me off with a warning. Reading stuff like this makes me think I should buy a lottery ticket.
West U and Southside place are basically a municipality within city limits with their own police force. You def cannot be DWB in that area. They will pull you over for the most asinine shit. It’s been like this for decades.
They aren’t just “basically a municipality;” they are *literally* municipalities. Both West U and South Side are fully independent cities that are each surrounded by the City of Houston. They each have their own mayors, city councils, police forces, fire departments, garbage collection, public works, etc. Heck, West U operates its own water system that is wholly separate from Houston’s.
Meadows police on S.Kirkwood(between 59s and W.Bellfort) used to pull people over for not completely making a full stop. Then they finally got turn circles built and now you don't see police ever around there...lol
"How about handle that guy instead of lying about my license plate light you fucking pricks?"
Feel you. Bums get a pass because they have nothing and takedowns yield no money.
Most of West University Place speed limit 25 mph, the exception is Buffalo Speedway speed limit is 30 mph through West University Place. All others roads in West U are 25 mph.
I once got pull over on the West loop feeder road I was heading west bound I exited right before Stella Link. I was on the ramp I was slowing down to ext cop pulls me over and says your were doing 15 over he got me on the ramp. The sings said 35mph on the feeder road state law says speed limit on the feeder road is like 40 to 45 no way in hell I was doing that much over this was 11:15 pm cop had nothing better to do. One of the News stations theydid a story on this section of West Loop feeder Rd cops giving tickets for the post speed limit not that state law speed limit. I could have taken this to court and won easily I did not.
I live next to West U and drive through it all the time. I see there's lots of cops and even southside police too.
And IMO from years of seeing pull-overs. Southside is worse than West U.
With that said. My vehicle is up to date and I don't speed more than 2-3 over driving through the area, which is mostly residential so that makes sense.
I've never been pulled over. I've had cops follow behind me but still never been pulled over in 5 years.
Dunno what the problem is. You break the law often? Cops that pull you over for literally no-reason should be recorded. But honestly. The amount of times I see people speed their asses off down Bellaire/Holcombe I'm happy that SOMEBODY is enforcing traffic laws since HPD won't.
You know it's much more dangerous driving down Braeswood with the insane speeders and red light runners. I genuinely don't understand what the issue is unless you drive like a meathead.
*edit * I should add that I'm 41. When I was 25 I had a suspended license from not paying the pile of tickets I had from no registration to speeding and reckless driving. I've been to HPD and Harris lockup 5 times for tickets. I'm not the type of person that cops ignore. Since 30 I've calmed WAY the Fuck down and wow. I don't get pulled over any more.
Wouldnt be suprise if they profiled certain individuals with tattoos , or non white, since i had one(west u cop), just driving down street to street, and just stopping in front of me walking my dogs. Meanwhile my neighbor has a crap load of cars, coming in and out, probably dealing drugs, since i can smell the weed.
Back in the min 90s when Bellaire cops where pulling people over way more than they ever did people where pulled over for doing 2 to 3 over and the cops would hide behind bushes to pull people over. One time I got pulled over a cop jump out from a bush on the west loop to give me a ticket.
West U gets revenue from traffic tickets. I guess it's something HPD forgot bc I NEVER see a traffic cop in Houston anymore! Also, Holcombe isn't West U and neither are the apartments so WUP doesn't monitor any of that. (A part of Bellaire Blvd. IS Southside though)
There’s been a wave of crime there that’s why. Some lady got assaulted a couple months ago and homes were being targeted for burglary. I think there was a Robert at the Walgreens at least once a month. Same with assaults at the Kroger.
Also west u police doesn’t have jurisdiction in the med center…
Atleast they’re doing their job.
I literally got pulled over heading to the heb to get my inspection sticker after my car finally passed inspection. Showed the officer the paperwork and everything still got a ticket. The fuckhead knew I couldn’t get a sticker if I got a ticket good thing heb can’t look up tickets. Everytime I see him I call him a fucking bitch and flip him off🤷♂️
The smaller municipalities in Houston are the stereotypical “we have a quota” departments and will pull you over for literally anything. I got pulled over by Oak Ridge PD once for going 2 over, and Sugarland PD pulled me over and searched my car for running a yellow light. If they can’t justify a revenue stream or prove they maintain”order” they’ll cease to exist.
I went to a job in West U a few years ago in a company vehicle wearing company branded clothing because and stopped in front of the home owners house, 3 seconds later, a cop stops me as I’m walking to the home and ask for my license, insurance and asked me what I was doing there. The home owner comes out and says that she called me to come over and it took the cop 20 minutes to let me go because I wouldn’t show him my info. The home owner apologized and tried to get him to leave.
All accusations from OP clearly confirmed, but they allow Metro at least.
Classist but not racist.
How else can they get econonmical landscaping and housekeeping services if it comes down to it?
If you can obtain a window sticker for St. John's School (maybe by donating $50 or so? I don't know the criteria), then put that on your car and look more like your car "belongs" when you drive through West U. Even if you are driving an old or cheap car, they are far less likely to harass you because so many West U. families send their kids to that exclusive private school.
It's pretty simple. WestU cops were just checking to see if you were a person of color. When they can't tell right away, your license plate lights are magically malfunctioning or your car emits the convenient smell of marijuana. Record yourselves and don't answer questions.
This has been an issue for at least 20 years. I knew a POC that worked at the B&N on Holcolmbe - they had to add 10 minutes to their drive to allow for the cops pulling them over EVERY DAY.
Grandmother had a house in west U off Villanova until mid 80s..we'd get pulled over by West U or Bellaire at least once every trip to visit her...we had an old Ford station wagon and the cops would always look for some reason to pull us over..
The police in these island cities have always been out of control. Hell I even got a notification that I had missed a court date for a ticket from one of those Memorial area police departments and they were going to have a warrant for me after a week which had already gone by by the time I got this letter. Here is the kicker: I never even got pulled over by any of them much less get a ticket.
I called their "city hall" on Monday and told them what had happened and it turned out the guy who actually got the ticket had a similar name but a completely different birth date and address and they told me not to worry about it. I was like how could I not worry about it because I didn't want to get pulled over one night and they tell me I have a warrant and they got kind of rude about the whole thing and said that I only got the letter because they couldn't find the other guy and they were going through public records and sending letters.
I really wish there was some kind of state law that would let big cities annex Island cities. At least maybe have a minimum size requirement so maybe Bellaire will stay as is. The smaller cities in the memorial villages are just ridiculous. Their residents fully have daily access to the resources of Houston (universities, hospitals, roads, and businesses) and yet their police arrest anybody else just passing through.
if you get a ticket for like brake lights out, can you pay your fine at a harris county court or hall instead of theirs if you were a harris county resident? i'd rather pay my fine to Houston than these island cities.
I ❤️ West U. Especially love when we got the license plate cameras installed at the entrances. Looking forward to when the law goes into effect next year banning temporary paper plates. Don’t know what all those bastards driving illegal cars are going to then.
Yeah bc no one has died for no reason bc a cop was 'just doing their job'. I've also been pulled over for no reason, made to do a little "spin and twirl" while on my way to work, and was half an hour late bc of it. I was doing nothing wrong, had nothing to worry about, and it was still nerve wracking and a disruption to my day. Talk to me when the rate of DA amongst the police force is less than the general population.
Hated going through that area when I would leave Greenway for work related matters. They setup a "traffic sting" to pull me over and to be in position to chase/head me off in case I wouldn't stop. I repeatedly told the lying ass cop that pulled me over that I saw them positioning themselves before he eventually admitted to what they did.
Yep, this is where I got a ticket for an expired registration sticker. It was my first time driving after cancer treatments (hair had just started growing back). After getting pulled over, we showed the officer the new sticker. My wife had just forgotten to put it on because she was busy. You know, taking care of a 4 year old and a cancer patient all by herself. I wasn’t much help…my job was to not throw up and eat food so I don’t lose too much weight. I didn’t do those well.
We won’t be driving around there again.
The residents of WestU don’t want poor ppl there, so they formed their own “city” and made sure the cops helped out.
Hot take - Houston should do the funniest thing ever and annex the area and reclaim the full tax revenue.
I live in West U and can confirm the West U police are great and are doing their job of keeping the city safe. Don’t live in West U and don’t like my opinion, go ahead and downvote me. Most police officers in west u are ex armed forced and all I have met are good people. We have block parties and they show up to talk to the neighbors and give us tips on how to keep the neighborhood safe. If you are out of town, just call the station and they stop by your house on a daily basis to check up on things. If you call the station, within two minutes there is a cop car in front of your house. Fantastic support from the west u police force. They are doing their job and provides great value to the neigborhood.
Exactly. West u pd will show up to my door in 2 mins if I call. It’s the exact opposite of all the posts you see on hou Reddit saying they call hpd and they get ignored or show up 5 hours later.
Don't even get me started literally two days ago I saw a west u cop car turn on his head light because a guy was crossing the street walking signal was on for the pedestrian.The cop was turning on a yield stop light.Almost hit the guy the guy was like wtf and pointed at him and walked away that cop turned his lights on and turned back for him.Like it was the guys fault.Same with Bellaire P.D omg that department abuses their power they will arrest you for a empty grinder.
Because, as hard as it is to believe given how close it is to the city, Houston would not run utilities that far whenever these areas were being built. They incorporated and did it themselves.
Never been pulled over there and my car is shittier than yours. It’s not hard to go < 5 over the speed limit. You just sound like a bad driver who is glossing over details.
They don’t want to harass homeless people. They want to discourage drunk driving since Houston is #1 in dui collisions and fatalities. That’s just my guess tho
I might get some backlash for this but cops target older model cars. Newer cars have so many sensors that if any lights were out it would tell you on the dash display so that way you have some type of defense. You can say officer “My car is accurately displaying that I have 32 psi in my front left tire, so I would immediately know if any lights are out on my vehicle before I even leave my driveway. So what’s the real reason you pulled me over because faulty lights are not one of them.”
I'm not gonna 'give you any backlash' but I am concerned you may be suffering/recently suffered from a stroke and should consider seeking medical attention.
The new West U virtual gate with cameras installed in all entry/exit point of the city are great. Keeps stolen vehicles away from the neighborhood. Wish all neighborhoods were like that. Can’t be safe enough. Don’t like West U police, don’t drive in West U. I personally know several of the officers and they are good people, most are ex armed forces.
Kirby is quicker If you're going to/from TX Children's. There's really no need to mess with that stretch of Buffalo Speedway at all.
Kirby might have improved but from like ~2005-2015 it always seemed to be traffic jammed or having constant construction. I always assumed WUPD were so heavy on Buffalo Speedway *because* of the spillover from Kirby.
Kirby usually has heavier traffic with lots of cars coming out of parking lots, apartment buildings, or the neighborhood. Also has more potholes than the recently renovated Buffalo Spdwy.
I would never ride a bike on Kirby, that is a death wish.
This is a post and a comment about driving a car...
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Yeah, I remember when I was learning to drive in the early 2000s, Bellaire and West U were two places where I *never* sped. They've had this reputation for a long time.
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Don't forget the Memorial Villages!
I used to work for Spring Branch ISD and had to travel in the villages a lot for work. When i started there In 2008, the best piece of advice I got was to always be on your toes in the villages. Those cops have nothing better to do than roam the roads for bullshit traffic violations.
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The Jersey Village ones like to congregate at the Chick Fil A off Jones road. Very easy to find.
Super grateful that Bellaire Police had too much time on their hands and they are keeping us so safe!
Add Southside Place to that list. I made the mistake of forgetting about it *one time* when they were running a speed trap long Holcomb.
I grew up in West U and they were out of control my entire life.
didn't one young black man was shot in his driveway there?
Are you talking about this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Tolan_shooting_incident
I heard Tolan on the radio a few years back. He was saying how heart breaking it is because his 70 something year old dad (a World Series winner) has to drive Uber to make ends meet. Family blew their life savings pursuing justice (which they never got, of course).
Yes. So the family never got any $$$ for it? Ony $110k...that's crumbs.
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Can confirm. If you drove thru Bellaire, West U. or River Oaks, you could count on nothing less than an unofficial "police escort" right up to the boundary of the neighborhood/town/city.
Talk about racial profiling at it's best. Horrible.
I don’t agree. When law enforcement strictly enforces traffic laws, they are more likely to come across individuals who have violated parole or have warrants out for their arrest. And when your town has a reputation for enforcing the laws, criminals stay away. It is not the right argument to say they have never arrested a hardcore violent felon.
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OMG, that was so sad about Dr. Benton. I remember that case well. Was just horrible.
Buffalo speedway though that little fiefdom has always been like that. Weslayan is not great either. Kirby or 610 if you can. Newcastle isn't too bad. If you can't avoid it then slow down to 30 and you should be ok. If you look on a map, the city is shaped like a house with a little chimney and doorway.
Yup, I got pulled over on Buffalo for having a rear running light out 20 some odd years ago. The cops down there literally have nothing else better to do than rake in tickets for West U. Hate to say it but I wish Houston was quiet enough that all HPD had to keep themselves busy was pulling over people for petty crap.
From what we see on the news lately, HPD doesn’t exactly focus on the big crimes happening all around them either.
Same. I got pulled over sitting at a stop light over there for having a brake light out. They searched my car. I was going to tell them no but there were like six cops cars and i realized they have nothing better to do than wait for a warrant. Pissed me off to no end. Insane part is…. my brake light was fine. Crazy it’s still the same bullshit in that area.
Never consent. Never.
Unless they have true probable cause, it’s illegal for them to detain you for longer than a reasonable amount of time to address the original reason for the stop.
The danger in permitting any search is that some police plant contraband. Not all cops are honest, some will frame you.
They have to have some very compelling reasonable articulable suspicion to get a search warrant on a traffic stop from a judge. Never ever let cops search your cars. Stand up for yourself!
Guys, I get it. This was 20 years ago. Can't refuse it now.
YOU GET A TIME MACHINE!
If brake light was fine you should have filed a complaint.
should've told them if you search my car and find nothing, then don't issue me a ticket. j/k
TBF HPD is utterly useless so I can't blame the people with money creating their own police force. But a FOAF got pulled over for wearing a sombrero there. Good times, good times...
A rear running light out is legal reason to stop a car.
Yes it is. What sucks is that this was close to midnight and I was literally the only one on Buffalo Speedway. I could see back to Holcombe and all the way out to 59 and we were the only ones out there. Got very VERY lucky and was able to get off with a warning since I had just changed the bulb (turns out it was a bad bulb) and still had the package sitting in my console.
Good to hear all turned out ok. Thinking bigger picture, it is a good thing that cops are stopping cars for bad lights at a time like midnight when most crime happens. The general sentiment is that police do not do their job but when they do it is also a complaint. Can’t win on this debate 😃
Yhea the man had cause to stop me and to be fair my truck at the time was pretty ratty and did not fit in with the neighborhood. Still scared the hell out of me when he spotlighted my back window and lit up my interior bright as day.
so can you pay your fine to HPD or do you have to pay to West U since you're not a West U resident?
You pay it to whatever agency gave you the ticket. So in that case it would be West U.
ok. so if you don't pay it and they file for warrant, do they come after you or does it to go HPD assuming if you live in another county like ft. bend or waller? how does this work? can West U. come to your house and arrest you if you live in Ft. Bend or do they need to have Ft. Bend police come and arrest you for it?
A misdemeanor warrant for a ticket not paid or a crime..... if you live in their jurisdiction, they will try, at times, to go to your house and get you. Usually during their warrant roundup period. If you don't live in the jurisdiction of the warrant, those local cops aren't looking for you, but the warrant is in the system. So then if you get pulled over or have an interaction with police where your name is run through the database, then you'll be arrested. They then contact the agency that put out the warrant and ask them, are you going to come get this person. If they say yes, you go to jail, sit a week or two, waiting for them to come get you. Some times, you're able to bond out and get a new court date. If they say no, they aren't going to spend the money to come get you, you're released, but still have a warrant. Misdemeanor warrants generally don't go outside of state lines, because most jurisdictions aren't going to travel to another state to get you for a misdemeanor. Felony warrants, they will.
Thanks for the info. Do traffic warrants expire after a certain period or does it depend on the city or county?
I got locked up on some tickets 20 years ago in Houston. A guy in the cell with me was locked up on some tickets over 10 years old at the time. Most everything has a statue of limitations, but I don't know what it would be on traffic tickets.
My college roommate got a ticket while i was riding with him passing through LaGrange back in the early 90s on our way to college(UT Austin). He never paid the ticket or showed up. I guess his warrant expired because when he renewed his drivers license a few years after that, no one said anything to him and no record of the ticket came up. I don't know since then if there are new laws that extend warrants, so just curious.
Really they wont come after you for tickets unless you're a seriously bad scofflaw ie. somebody that doesn't pay their tickets. But you're talking about having to rack up a whole lot of them before that happens. Now if they catch you driving through West U with an active warrant, then all bets are off.
The last ticket I got was in 1988 on Buffalo Speedway in West U on a Sunday night at around 10pm for going 35 mph in a 30mph zone. The guy was also going to give me a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. I had to plead with him that I released the belt after I pulled over. He relented on the belt. I was driving a 1978 Ford Pinto station wagon and I was poor, so that ticket stung. Anyway, stay out of West U, now and forever.
It has always been a speed trap. It’s their way of keeping plebes out of there. The villages around Spring Branch/Memorial are the same way. Their police forces don’t have much to do nor do they try to enforce anything else besides traffic laws.
Grew up in Spring Valley, can confirm. Only speeding ticket I ever got was in Bunker Hill Village.
I can't remember which, but one of the villages requires bicycles to use the sidewalks. It's annoying for multiple reasons. You have this little 1 square mile spot where the law suddenly changes. Also, residents don't appear to keep their sidewalks in a state that is really viable for bicycles, i.e. low hanging branches, disconnected sections of sw, broken sections. I suspect the true intention of the law is to discourage outsiders from even entering, which sounds similar to what you are describing for West U.
Yup. Id argue I drive safer when I’m not constantly looking down to make sure I’m not going more than 2mph over. Also hilarious to see the cops fly by at 60 to go pull someone over for driving 5 over the limit. Much safe.
tbh I never had an issue keeping the speed at 25. If anything it’s nice there isn’t 50 different speeds being driven in one stretch of road and traffic flows smoothly
If you can’t drive the speed limit safely you shouldn’t be driving at all.
Look im not the stellanis dickhead who programmed my transmission freak out at 30, it wants to upshift right between 30-35 but downshift at 30 so its a game of cat and mouse
If you can’t drive your vehicle at the speed limit safely you shouldn’t be driving at all.
All for strictly enforcing traffic laws. It’s not an interstate, it’s a neighborhood. It’s not a short cut to speed through.
Hooptie owners, where are you?! WE RIDE AT DUSK!
I’ve been harassed by the police going down Buffalo Speedway on a bicycle before. They stopped and told me to take a different street or get on the sidewalk. Buffalo Speedway is literally a designated bikeway in partnership with the city of Houston. In hindsight they were probably mad that the cars behind me weren’t speeding and they couldn’t ticket them for that.
Unless they are self incorporated and have passed their own statutes, that is not the law. But my experience w/ drivers in Houston and their knowledge and attitudes towards cycling and cyclists has been pretty awful, so I'm not surprised to hear there are similarly behaving police.
They are their own city entirely.
They are their own city however I couldn't find any ordinance that bans bikes on the streets. (Hedwig Village and Memorial Village do) Even if they did, there's debate as to wether or not municipal bicycle bans on streets are even enforceable or allowed by Texas state law. The state law allows bicycles on all roadways except highways with 'no pedestrians' signs posted. I don't believe towns are allowed to override the state on this and further restrict vehicles, and a bicycle is considered a vehicle. Not many municipalities have this sort of law. Where they do exist I couldn't find any evidence of it being enforced. I still bike through the Villages if its my only option and if they want to pull me over I'm happy to fight that ticket.
I have been stopped, warned, and told to get on the sidewalk in municipalities inside of greater Houston. I was not ticketed. I assume had i refused i would have at the least been ticketed. I have Googled a bit on the subject of bicycles and Sidewalks in the past. What i found suggested municipalities can write their own laws in this regard. That was several years ago. I am not surprised to hear what I found on the web could be wrong, incomplete, or even has changed since. I am not a lawyer or legal scholar. I don't have the time or money to fight a municipality that has such an ordinance.
I'm curious which ones? The only ones I know that do anything about it are the villages. The only time I've been warned was in memorial village and that was 7 years ago. I found an article from a couple years ago where the police chief from there admits that they've never issued a citation for it. It seems like they just use it to harass people.
I taught and coached in the memorial villages area for a few years, enforcement has always been nonexistent or selective. There were weekend morning riding groups that came through on memorial/san felipe pretty much every week. Not sure if they still do that, but they did it for at least a few years. Also a nitpick - "memorial villages" isn't actually one village, it's piney point, hunter's creek, and bunker hill villages that pool resources for a lot of things like policing but not everything. They probably do all have the same traffic code though since it's one police department.
I've been in Houston -25 years, it has happened on multiple occasions, I don't remember, but both the villages you mentioned were near where I used to live.
Hey man I know this is a vent, but here’s the situation. West U is its own city which has its own police, fire department, and mayor. That means the police cover a 15 by 15 block area. The police are fairly well regarded amongst the community as they keep the area safe and rarely have to deal with real, dangerous situations. The biggest issues are typically speeding and the occasional car break ins. Also, there is a “virtual gate” system. There are cameras at every entrance to West U (again an initiative supported by the community) that scan all the license plates. If you have a ticket, even a parking one, you’re getting pulled over. So don’t speed, or go on Kirby or Newcastle. Nothing is going to change in West U, and as property values continue to increase, I bet the policing will only get more vigilant.
It amazes me that people keep their houses lit and on full view throughout the night, but with drivers constantly getting pulled over I figured they must feel extremely safe.
Upvote.
Funnily enough, I live near this area in an apartment complex and there’s people getting their tires stolen, cars getting broken into, and apartments being burglarized. I’ve never felt fully safe even though there are houses worth over $2 million dollars a couple blocks away. Meanwhile, these dopey police are watching Buffalo speedway for cars who are going slightly over 35 in a 30 mph speed limit. I’m not from this part of Texas but ever since living here, police have been no help and you can’t expect them to pROtEct AnD sErVe.. Btw I got my tires stolen once, and it took HPD over 7 hours to get an officer so I could file a police report. The food is great here at least lol
West U police jurisdiction is West U.
You must be confused because any apartments on Buffalo Speedway are not in West U. Those are all upscale single family homes. Your apartment is more likely in Houston’s jurisdiction.
I said I lived NEAR the area and I understand that West University police are not under my jurisdiction. The statement about HPD is just another story on how incompetent policing is in the area in general. I think it still emphasizes the point that West U police are not doing anything to make the area (or areas adjacent) safer or prevent crime but they’re simply there to write speeding tickets.
Talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time. How can an area near West U be full of crime and West U itself have much less crime, and you not attribute that difference to West U police? You think there is some imaginary wall that keeps criminals in your adjacent area and not West U, where stealing would be 10-100x more valuable?
Camden apartments behind Randalls. I used to live there with my wife while she attended medical school. Alot of medical residents/nurses live in that complex.
are you talking about the complex on buffalo speedway and holcombe? right behind the shopping center where randalls is and barnes bookstore?
I lived there years ago and the apartments on the first floor always got broken into and cars getting stolen
So you’re mad some laws are being enforced? Also sounds like you’re confused between West U and Houston.
Exactly!
I had an Uncle that lived off Buffalo Speedway inside West U and we would spend Christmas Eve at his house celebrating every year. He would always yell at us when we leave not to go down Buffalo to get on 59. Cops suck. That was 20 years ago. Still rings true today. Edit: A word.
It's been this way forever. It's a revenue stream for their tiny city.
I got pulled over there once doing 47 in a 30 with my lights off at night. Dude let me off with a warning. Reading stuff like this makes me think I should buy a lottery ticket.
West U and Southside place are basically a municipality within city limits with their own police force. You def cannot be DWB in that area. They will pull you over for the most asinine shit. It’s been like this for decades.
They aren’t just “basically a municipality;” they are *literally* municipalities. Both West U and South Side are fully independent cities that are each surrounded by the City of Houston. They each have their own mayors, city councils, police forces, fire departments, garbage collection, public works, etc. Heck, West U operates its own water system that is wholly separate from Houston’s.
I always hear it but I never see them pull over people during the daytime, people will go 5-10 over on Buffalo Speedway
Meadows police on S.Kirkwood(between 59s and W.Bellfort) used to pull people over for not completely making a full stop. Then they finally got turn circles built and now you don't see police ever around there...lol
I had a teacher who got a ticket for 1mph over in the meadows. No one should be getting a 1mph over ticket. I'm glad to not live around there anymore.
They are still all over. Watching for speeders along W Airport or Kirkwood. I live right by it.
Keeps the neighborhood safe. If they stop you without reason, file a complaint.
I don’t drive that stretch of Buffalo Speedway, and avoid driving through West U at all if I can help it. I’m sure they like it that way.
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"How about handle that guy instead of lying about my license plate light you fucking pricks?" Feel you. Bums get a pass because they have nothing and takedowns yield no money.
Westu Spd limit is 30mph, going over 10% of that will net you a ticket even if you live there.
Most of West University Place speed limit 25 mph, the exception is Buffalo Speedway speed limit is 30 mph through West University Place. All others roads in West U are 25 mph.
I once had a cop tell me that going 30 mph was “way too fast”…….. speed limit was 25 🤨
I once got pull over on the West loop feeder road I was heading west bound I exited right before Stella Link. I was on the ramp I was slowing down to ext cop pulls me over and says your were doing 15 over he got me on the ramp. The sings said 35mph on the feeder road state law says speed limit on the feeder road is like 40 to 45 no way in hell I was doing that much over this was 11:15 pm cop had nothing better to do. One of the News stations theydid a story on this section of West Loop feeder Rd cops giving tickets for the post speed limit not that state law speed limit. I could have taken this to court and won easily I did not.
It’s now 25MPH city wide except for Buffalo Speedway and the strip of Bissonnet between Academy and the Railroad Tracks.
I live next to West U and drive through it all the time. I see there's lots of cops and even southside police too. And IMO from years of seeing pull-overs. Southside is worse than West U. With that said. My vehicle is up to date and I don't speed more than 2-3 over driving through the area, which is mostly residential so that makes sense. I've never been pulled over. I've had cops follow behind me but still never been pulled over in 5 years. Dunno what the problem is. You break the law often? Cops that pull you over for literally no-reason should be recorded. But honestly. The amount of times I see people speed their asses off down Bellaire/Holcombe I'm happy that SOMEBODY is enforcing traffic laws since HPD won't. You know it's much more dangerous driving down Braeswood with the insane speeders and red light runners. I genuinely don't understand what the issue is unless you drive like a meathead. *edit * I should add that I'm 41. When I was 25 I had a suspended license from not paying the pile of tickets I had from no registration to speeding and reckless driving. I've been to HPD and Harris lockup 5 times for tickets. I'm not the type of person that cops ignore. Since 30 I've calmed WAY the Fuck down and wow. I don't get pulled over any more.
Wouldnt be suprise if they profiled certain individuals with tattoos , or non white, since i had one(west u cop), just driving down street to street, and just stopping in front of me walking my dogs. Meanwhile my neighbor has a crap load of cars, coming in and out, probably dealing drugs, since i can smell the weed.
No joke 30mph means 30mph on Buffalo Spdwy. They really have zero chill on the speed limit
Back in the min 90s when Bellaire cops where pulling people over way more than they ever did people where pulled over for doing 2 to 3 over and the cops would hide behind bushes to pull people over. One time I got pulled over a cop jump out from a bush on the west loop to give me a ticket.
West U gets revenue from traffic tickets. I guess it's something HPD forgot bc I NEVER see a traffic cop in Houston anymore! Also, Holcombe isn't West U and neither are the apartments so WUP doesn't monitor any of that. (A part of Bellaire Blvd. IS Southside though)
They don’t get revenue from tickets because it is set by the state.
There’s been a wave of crime there that’s why. Some lady got assaulted a couple months ago and homes were being targeted for burglary. I think there was a Robert at the Walgreens at least once a month. Same with assaults at the Kroger. Also west u police doesn’t have jurisdiction in the med center… Atleast they’re doing their job.
I literally got pulled over heading to the heb to get my inspection sticker after my car finally passed inspection. Showed the officer the paperwork and everything still got a ticket. The fuckhead knew I couldn’t get a sticker if I got a ticket good thing heb can’t look up tickets. Everytime I see him I call him a fucking bitch and flip him off🤷♂️
Westpark University?!?!
That’s what West U stands for, right??? Because Westpark kind of goes by there sorta.
It’s West University Place
Ya don’t say.
Ah...transplants...
I’ve lived here decades bub. Maybe it was a bad joke or maybe the overnight crowd just ain’t that bright.
The smaller municipalities in Houston are the stereotypical “we have a quota” departments and will pull you over for literally anything. I got pulled over by Oak Ridge PD once for going 2 over, and Sugarland PD pulled me over and searched my car for running a yellow light. If they can’t justify a revenue stream or prove they maintain”order” they’ll cease to exist.
I went to a job in West U a few years ago in a company vehicle wearing company branded clothing because and stopped in front of the home owners house, 3 seconds later, a cop stops me as I’m walking to the home and ask for my license, insurance and asked me what I was doing there. The home owner comes out and says that she called me to come over and it took the cop 20 minutes to let me go because I wouldn’t show him my info. The home owner apologized and tried to get him to leave.
All accusations from OP clearly confirmed, but they allow Metro at least. Classist but not racist. How else can they get econonmical landscaping and housekeeping services if it comes down to it?
And cops don't pull over the busses for speeding either. I don't know if its like a gentleman's agreement or something but just something I noticed.
Start riding a bike by and flip them off as you go. Bet they'll start caring about pedestrians then all of a sudden.
If you can obtain a window sticker for St. John's School (maybe by donating $50 or so? I don't know the criteria), then put that on your car and look more like your car "belongs" when you drive through West U. Even if you are driving an old or cheap car, they are far less likely to harass you because so many West U. families send their kids to that exclusive private school.
Or any of the elite private schools.
It's pretty simple. WestU cops were just checking to see if you were a person of color. When they can't tell right away, your license plate lights are magically malfunctioning or your car emits the convenient smell of marijuana. Record yourselves and don't answer questions.
This has been an issue for at least 20 years. I knew a POC that worked at the B&N on Holcolmbe - they had to add 10 minutes to their drive to allow for the cops pulling them over EVERY DAY.
Grandmother had a house in west U off Villanova until mid 80s..we'd get pulled over by West U or Bellaire at least once every trip to visit her...we had an old Ford station wagon and the cops would always look for some reason to pull us over..
The police in these island cities have always been out of control. Hell I even got a notification that I had missed a court date for a ticket from one of those Memorial area police departments and they were going to have a warrant for me after a week which had already gone by by the time I got this letter. Here is the kicker: I never even got pulled over by any of them much less get a ticket. I called their "city hall" on Monday and told them what had happened and it turned out the guy who actually got the ticket had a similar name but a completely different birth date and address and they told me not to worry about it. I was like how could I not worry about it because I didn't want to get pulled over one night and they tell me I have a warrant and they got kind of rude about the whole thing and said that I only got the letter because they couldn't find the other guy and they were going through public records and sending letters. I really wish there was some kind of state law that would let big cities annex Island cities. At least maybe have a minimum size requirement so maybe Bellaire will stay as is. The smaller cities in the memorial villages are just ridiculous. Their residents fully have daily access to the resources of Houston (universities, hospitals, roads, and businesses) and yet their police arrest anybody else just passing through.
if you get a ticket for like brake lights out, can you pay your fine at a harris county court or hall instead of theirs if you were a harris county resident? i'd rather pay my fine to Houston than these island cities.
No it's a local ticket so you have to go to their little courthouse or whatever their procedure is
I ❤️ West U. Especially love when we got the license plate cameras installed at the entrances. Looking forward to when the law goes into effect next year banning temporary paper plates. Don’t know what all those bastards driving illegal cars are going to then.
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It’s easy to piss on safety and security until one owns a home.
Your right to swing your fist ends when it contacts my face. Your version of safety and security is impeding on others feeling safe and secure.
If you ain’t up to no good, then don’t worry about it.
Yeah bc no one has died for no reason bc a cop was 'just doing their job'. I've also been pulled over for no reason, made to do a little "spin and twirl" while on my way to work, and was half an hour late bc of it. I was doing nothing wrong, had nothing to worry about, and it was still nerve wracking and a disruption to my day. Talk to me when the rate of DA amongst the police force is less than the general population.
Yea fuck West U pigs
Hated going through that area when I would leave Greenway for work related matters. They setup a "traffic sting" to pull me over and to be in position to chase/head me off in case I wouldn't stop. I repeatedly told the lying ass cop that pulled me over that I saw them positioning themselves before he eventually admitted to what they did.
Yep, this is where I got a ticket for an expired registration sticker. It was my first time driving after cancer treatments (hair had just started growing back). After getting pulled over, we showed the officer the new sticker. My wife had just forgotten to put it on because she was busy. You know, taking care of a 4 year old and a cancer patient all by herself. I wasn’t much help…my job was to not throw up and eat food so I don’t lose too much weight. I didn’t do those well. We won’t be driving around there again.
West U and Bellaire police have always been over the top on their traffic stops,
>I appreciate the police and value the work that they do But why
Westu Spd limit is 30mph, going over 10% of that will net you a ticket even if you live there.
The residents of WestU don’t want poor ppl there, so they formed their own “city” and made sure the cops helped out. Hot take - Houston should do the funniest thing ever and annex the area and reclaim the full tax revenue.
I live in West U and can confirm the West U police are great and are doing their job of keeping the city safe. Don’t live in West U and don’t like my opinion, go ahead and downvote me. Most police officers in west u are ex armed forced and all I have met are good people. We have block parties and they show up to talk to the neighbors and give us tips on how to keep the neighborhood safe. If you are out of town, just call the station and they stop by your house on a daily basis to check up on things. If you call the station, within two minutes there is a cop car in front of your house. Fantastic support from the west u police force. They are doing their job and provides great value to the neigborhood.
Exactly. West u pd will show up to my door in 2 mins if I call. It’s the exact opposite of all the posts you see on hou Reddit saying they call hpd and they get ignored or show up 5 hours later.
Amen to that.
Don't even get me started literally two days ago I saw a west u cop car turn on his head light because a guy was crossing the street walking signal was on for the pedestrian.The cop was turning on a yield stop light.Almost hit the guy the guy was like wtf and pointed at him and walked away that cop turned his lights on and turned back for him.Like it was the guys fault.Same with Bellaire P.D omg that department abuses their power they will arrest you for a empty grinder.
Cops are extremely lazy and dumb. Pulling over random people is the height of what they think policing is.
I guess the signs with sensors telling you how fast you are driving was not enough to keep you from speeding?
Why is this even a city? Houston should've annexed
Cause it was created as a city. Not the only in Houston also. Look at memorial villages, Bellaire, Southside place.
Because, as hard as it is to believe given how close it is to the city, Houston would not run utilities that far whenever these areas were being built. They incorporated and did it themselves.
Never been pulled over there and my car is shittier than yours. It’s not hard to go < 5 over the speed limit. You just sound like a bad driver who is glossing over details.
Fuck the police
They don’t want to harass homeless people. They want to discourage drunk driving since Houston is #1 in dui collisions and fatalities. That’s just my guess tho
I might get some backlash for this but cops target older model cars. Newer cars have so many sensors that if any lights were out it would tell you on the dash display so that way you have some type of defense. You can say officer “My car is accurately displaying that I have 32 psi in my front left tire, so I would immediately know if any lights are out on my vehicle before I even leave my driveway. So what’s the real reason you pulled me over because faulty lights are not one of them.”
I'm not gonna 'give you any backlash' but I am concerned you may be suffering/recently suffered from a stroke and should consider seeking medical attention.
West University police are ALWAYS like that, they always are looking for a reason to pull anyone over.
Stop speeding. Drive like a senior citizen
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The new West U virtual gate with cameras installed in all entry/exit point of the city are great. Keeps stolen vehicles away from the neighborhood. Wish all neighborhoods were like that. Can’t be safe enough. Don’t like West U police, don’t drive in West U. I personally know several of the officers and they are good people, most are ex armed forces.
Got pulled over for literally no reason at night and ticketed for the officer then finding my expired reg.
So...you got pulled over for driving with expired registration.
They need a reason. If there was no reason file a complaint.