Task force to crack down on parole violators

Nothing like a crisis to focus the mind, and this spree by an alleged serial killer has focused the collective mind of law enforcement.

Jose Rodriguez tampered with his ankle monitor, he was out on mandatory release, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo says when parolees do that it's usually bad news.

Houston Police Officer's Union President Joe Gamaldi says it's not just to commit petty crimes.

"We've had three people commit murder in Harris County in the last week. We need to be hard on these folks on the front end and we have to be hard on them on the back end so we can have a safe existence in  of Houston," Gamaldi says.

At Tuesday's news conference announcing the big arrest, Chief Acevedo announced the formation of a parole violators task force. He wants it to be made of officers from the 30-some odd cities in Harris County. He promised more details would be forthcoming soon. He says he wants the legislature to give police the power to search parolees whenever they encounter them and make parole officers actual certified police officers. He says what they've been doing simply hasn't been working.

"We've got to up our game because there's not enough of us dealing with parolees but we're going to change that,” said Acevedo.