The Holistic Assistance Response Team was created as an alternative response to police for 911 calls involving mental health or homelessness issues.
![Eileen Grench, public safety reporter](https://houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cropped-Eileen-Grench_20230602_STAFF-Portraits_AT_173-copy-1-120x120.jpg)
Eileen Grench
Eileen Grench covers public safety for the Houston Landing, where two of her primary areas of focus will be the Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff’s Office. She is returning to local news after a year as the national justice reporter at The Daily Beast. Eileen previously covered juvenile justice for a nonprofit newsroom, THE CITY, in New York as a Report for America Corps member. At THE CITY, she was a 2021 Livingston Award finalist for her coverage of inequities in child welfare, and won the Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award in Local Investigative Reporting for her series on education in juvenile detention centers during the coronavirus pandemic. Eileen also worked as an investigative reporting fellow at the Global Migration Project at Columbia University, covering immigration issues for outlets such as The New Yorker, The Intercept, The Nation and Documented.
Harris County halts HART program after Commissioners Court disagrees on paying vendor
The Holistic Assistance Response Teams program aims to reduce non-emergency 911 phone calls from law enforcement to trained behavioral health professionals.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner resigns amid suspended-cases scandal
Chief Troy Finner retired Wednesday from the Houston Police Department in a late-night resignation given to Mayor John Whitmire amid an ongoing probe into how the department has suspended thousands of criminal investigations
Harris County justice leaders are re-embracing ‘cite and release.’ Will they follow through?
The county’s leading criminal justice council voted to recommit to the policy, which aims to keep people accused of low-level crimes out of jail.
Lakewood Church shooting: Videos capture gunfire, assailant shouting ‘all I need is help’
Authorities exchanged dozens of rounds of gunfire with Genesse Moreno, 36, who shouted that she needed “help” as she shot into the church.
Lakewood Church shooter: Houston Police identify Genesse Moreno, 36, as assailant
Police say the Conroe woman’s antisemitic writings and conflicts with her ex-husband are being investigated as possible motives in Sunday’s shooting.
Police: Suspect dead, 2 injured in shooting at Lakewood Church
A woman between the ages of 30 and 35 opened fire at about 2 p.m., prompting two off-duty police to return fire, authorities said.
‘I just can’t relent’: Darius Elam insists he’s innocent. But his options are running out.
DNA evidence didn’t put him at the scene of the crime. Now Darius Elam’s legal team is fighting to compare the results to a database of suspects.
Will John Whitmire ‘pick up the mantle’ on policing reform? Why advocates aren’t so sure.
A community-driven, 104-point proposal largely found support from former mayor Sylvester Turner, but his successor has taken a different tack.
Harris County’s sheriff fired him for bigotry. The DA’s office hired him one month later.
Information technology analyst Robert “Mark” Antill landed a job at the district attorney’s office within weeks of his firing for making numerous offensive comments.