Abbott targets street takeovers across Texas with new task force

 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced a statewide task force to address “street takeovers,” which are instances where people block off intersections so that vehicles can perform stunts including donuts and drifting.

“Despite the foolish attempts by some local officials to defund and demoralize our brave law enforcement officers, Texas is and remains a law-and-order state,” Abbott said in a statement on Thursday. “We must send a clear message that these reckless, coordinated criminal events will not be tolerated in Texas.”

Abbott said in a statement announcing the task force that these incidents of street takeovers have resulted in law enforcement injuries and have endangered the public and are becoming “increasingly violent and more frequent.”

The statement said the task force will “will focus on state-level investigations that target the organized crime aspect of the street takeovers,” adding that the task force’s goal is to make arrests and seize assets, including vehicles and weapons.

“This statewide task force will work closely with local officials and law enforcement to investigate, prosecute, and prevent these dangerous street takeovers,” he continued. “Working together, we can ensure Texans in communities large and small remain safe.”

The task force will include members of the state’s Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division, Texas Highway Patrol, Aviation Operations Division and the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, which will work with local law enforcement agencies.

Reports of street takeovers in Texas and cities like Los Angeles and Chicago have been increasing over the last year.

Seven people in the Austin-area were arrested in relation to a street takeover over the weekend, KVUE reported. In January, people blocked off a portion of Interstate 10 near San Antonio so that drivers could do donuts, and KENS 5 reported that a gun was fired at the scene, and that the takeover resulted in a four-car crash.

“These street takeovers put the lives of Texans and Texas law enforcement officers at risk,” Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said in a statement. “We are seeing fireworks fired at officers in crowds, lasers pointed at aircraft, drivers driving upwards of 130 miles per hour with no lights on in the dark of night—all of it is reckless, and it needs to be stopped.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that at least six people died in connection with illegal street takeovers from November 2021 to August 2022. In October, three people were killed in a shootout that took place during a street takeover in Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3871092-abbott-targets-street-takeovers-across-texas-with-new-task-force/