Houston officials say a rise in homicides and renewed gang activity has turned the city's southwest side apartment complexes into battle zones. One complex, Woodscape Apartments, is the hot spot for the city's swelling homicide rate, the Houston Chronicle reported. The number of homicides in the surrounding police district tripled in the last four months of 2005 over the same period the year before. Houston's annual homicide rate was up 23 percent last year, while cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Miami saw theirs go down, the newspaper said. Police Chief Harold Hurtt has attributed the rise in violence to a variety of factors -- including increased gang activity, the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees and poor management of apartment complexes that are breeding grounds for crime, the newspaper said. Hurtt has called on apartment-complex management to hire more security officers, screen residents more thoroughly and be more active in fighting crime. © Copyright 2006 by United Press International

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