{"id":375750,"date":"2025-11-13T10:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T10:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375750\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T10:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T10:43:10","slug":"sean-teare-care-about-fighting-crime-start-with-feeding-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/375750\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Teare: Care About Fighting Crime? Start with Feeding Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I stood alongside Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones and dozens of volunteers at a special food distribution hosted by\u00a0West Houston Assistance Ministries<\/a>. <\/p>\n

We loaded boxes of donated food into cars that stretched for blocks for families hurt by the halt in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits due to the shutdown of the federal government. The desperation was palpable. That day, volunteers distributed food for more than 1,000 hungry families, including federal employees being forced to work without pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across the greater Houston area,\u00a0nearly 900,000 people rely on SNAP benefits<\/a>\u00a0to put food on the table. That number\u00a0alone\u00a0is staggering \u2014 but it becomes even more urgent when you consider that SNAP provides nine times more food assistance\u00a0than all the food banks in the United States combined, including children, elderly and disabled people. <\/p>\n

When those benefits were suspended or significantly reduced, the strain on local resources became overwhelming. As Reverend Mark Brown, CEO of West Houston Assistance Ministries, told us: while food banks are doing everything they can, they simply cannot fill the gap left by SNAP. He described the current situation as a\u00a0\u201chumanitarian crisis,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0calling the need for food in Houston \u201cenormous.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t agree more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For me, this isn\u2019t just a humanitarian challenge \u2014 it\u2019s a public safety issue. Common sense tells us that when we neglect to support the most vulnerable among us with basic resources for survival, the conditions for crime thrive. <\/p>\n

According to\u00a0one study,<\/a>\u00a0for every 1 percent increase in food insecurity, violent crime rises by 12 percent. Conversely,\u00a0evidence shows\u00a0that when food is readily available, neighborhoods are safer, stronger and benefit from lower rates of violent crime. Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean hunger causes crime, nor that those struggling to feed their families are destined for criminality. <\/p>\n

But it does highlight a critical truth: anyone serious about reducing violent crime should also care about attacking its root causes \u2014 poverty, lack of education, inadequate infrastructure, and limited upward mobility. I call these challenges \u201ccrime drivers\u201d that, if left to fester, will reverse the progress we\u2019re making to break the cycle of crime and violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And we have made progress.\u00a0Violent crime has been declining<\/a>\u00a0over the past few years, thanks to the hard work of law enforcement, prosecutors, and so many local organizations working on crime prevention programs. The Harris County Commissioners Court deserves credit, too, for funding programs that are smart on crime, not just tough on it. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ve invested in\u00a0gun violence interruption programs<\/a>\u00a0through the Harris County Health Department \u2014 initiatives proven to stop the cycle of gun crime before it starts. They\u2019ve supported\u00a0nuisance abatement efforts<\/a>\u00a0that tear down abandoned properties, which often become magnets for criminal activity. And they\u2019ve funded\u00a0infrastructure improvements<\/a>\u00a0like sidewalks and lighting \u2014 simple changes that make neighborhoods safer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a career prosecutor, I\u2019ve spent years holding violent offenders accountable. I\u2019m not afraid to put dangerous people behind bars. But I also know that if we want to stop the revolving door of crime, we must do more than debate bond reform. We must double down on mental health and substance use treatment, fight domestic violence with urgency, and meaningfully address the root causes of crime. This approach doesn\u2019t just make our communities safer, it\u00a0saves taxpayer dollars<\/a>, reduces the dangerous court backlog, and gives deserving individuals a real chance to rebuild their lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So today, I\u2019m asking you to join us by doing something simple. Donate your time, your money, or your food to the local nonprofits doing the quiet, heroic work of feeding families and stabilizing communities. Because when we feed, clothe, and shelter our neighbors, we\u2019re not just helping them survive, we\u2019re building a safer, stronger Harris County for everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article appears in Jan 1 \u2013 Dec 31, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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