Violent crime to be a focus
James Smith is beginning to settle in as the FBI’s Houston Division Special Agent in Charge.
He chose Houston Newsmakers for his first Houston interview and says it didn’t take long to see what a key priority in the Houston division will be.
“We have to know how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and that’s something I say quite a bit within the field office,” Smith said. “But we have to really look at what’s going on right now in Houston and around the country with violent crimes.”
A graduate of North Carolina A & T with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, it wasn’t long before he joined the FBI and was stationed in the Los Angeles Field office investigating drug trafficking, money laundering and violent crimes.
In this week’s conversation, he talks about his family ties to law enforcement, the FBI’s focus on cybercrime and terrorism, the need for the FBI to learn from some very public mistakes, and the ultimate focus on keeping Americans safe.
Texas Rangers prepare to Commemorate 200 years of service
It is quite rare when the Chief of the Texas Rangers sits down for an interview, but Chief Chance Collins was happy to do it to talk about the upcoming commemoration of the Texas Rangers Bicentennial.
“The purpose of the Bicentennial is one, to commemorate 200 years of service but to educate the public on who we are and what it is we do,” he said. “That’s probably the most well-known question we get asked is, who are the Rangers, and what is it that you actually do.”
Chance talks about some of the many missions on which the Texas Rangers are deployed about the many plans for the commemoration which starts in January.
See more information about the Texas Rangers Bicentennial here.
Raising funds to support pediatric hospice
Houston Hospice is the only free-standing nonprofit Hospice organization in Greater Houston but its services are provided across the spectrum to those facing end-of-life circumstances.
“The whole team can go to the home where patients are in their own element,” said team physician Dr. Hanh Trinh. “All the medicines related to the diagnosis are covered and sent right to the home. We have the beds and all the equipment sent to the home and then the teams come to the home.”
Trinh says Houston Hospice is one of the few that deal with pediatric hospice for children from infant to age 18.
“We take care of the loved ones of the patients as well, the family members because a lot of times it’s their coping as well to lose somebody younger which never is easy.” she added.
On May 6th Houston Hospice will be holding one of its biggest fundraisers of the year, the Butterfly Luncheon which raises money specifically for pediatric hospice. https://www.houstonhospice.org/event/21butterflyluncheon/
- For more information on this week’s Houston Newsmakers
- · James Smith, FBI Special Agent In Charge, Houston Division
- · Chance Collins, Chief-Texas Ranger
- · Website: https://texasranger2023.org/
- · Dr. Hanh Trinh, Team Physician, Houston Hospice
- · Website: https://www.houstonhospice.org/