DATELINE: HOUSTON : Metropolis Turning Into ‘Wild West Town’ : Soaring crime spreads fear through white suburbs. Violence is laid to drugs, breakdown in punishment.

What happened at the Whataburger not long ago says a lot about Houston and why people are looking over their shoulders more than ever.

Three armed men stormed into the fast-food restaurant early in the morning, herded employees and customers to the rear and demanded that the safe be opened. When one employee said he did not know the combination, he was shot in the legs.

When the assistant manager bungled her first attempt at opening the safe, one of the gunmen shot a customer. When she could not get it right the second time, the robber shot another customer. She finally succeeded on the third try, and the gunmen took the contents of the safe and a cash register.

Then there was the terrible final weekend of summer, when 16 homicides were committed in Houston, more than at any time in the last 10 years.

And what about Jack and Martha McKinstry, who were followed to their suburban home by robbers who spotted their Rolex watches, perhaps when the couple were at a grocery. Two armed men kicked in the back door, demanded their watches, cash and guns, then fled in a matter of minutes. This method, known as “kick burglaries,” is becoming quite popular around Houston, a city that is uneasy these days because of a sharp increase in violent crime.

Not that Houston can lay claim to such titles as “murder capital of the nation,” which Washington, D.C., seems to have a lock on for the foreseeable future. Houston, for that matter, has even been outstripped in the crime department by Dallas, its rival to the north.

Even so, the increase in criminal activity has become a major topic of discussion, particularly by those in predominantly white suburbs who had heretofore thought of themselves as unlikely targets. That perception has changed drastically in the last several months as crime has moved to places once considered safe.

The fear of being a crime victim has increased to a point where, according to a recent poll, half the people who live in metropolitan Houston would like to leave or are thinking of leaving.

“It’s never been like this before,” said Lt. Don McWilliams of the Houston police robbery division and a 34-year veteran of the force. “We’ve turned into a Wild West town.”

The statistics seem to bear out McWilliams’ contention. Violent felonies are up 19% over last year, which, in turn, saw a 16% rise from the year before. Homicides are up almost 7% over last year.

The crime problem in Houston has become the hottest topic of an otherwise lackluster mayoral race. Local television stations have embraced the rising crime rate as their top story. One local newspaper ran a front-page story recently that was basically a primer on how to avoid being mugged. There has been much discussion about imposing a curfew in Houston, just as Dallas has done.

Some Houston restaurants are offering discounts and other perks to policemen in an effort to have them around. Many are also hiring security guards and installing surveillance cameras. Apartment complexes are adding on-premise convenience stores as a new tenant lure.

McWilliams and other law officers contend that a number of factors have come together to bring about this recent spate of crimes. First among these is the widespread use of crack cocaine, along with an increasing use of heroin among older criminals and the need for money to buy the drugs. Coupled with that is the fact that criminals are serving one month for each year of their sentences in Texas because of overcrowded prisons.

“It’s a combination of drugs and the fact that the penal system has become a laughingstock on the street with the criminals,” McWilliams said. “We’re seeing hardened criminals getting out in months when it should be years. They’re not afraid of us or the system any more.”

He said also that he believed the added violence of late had to do, in part, with young criminals shooting people to make a name for themselves.

“It makes them big among their peers,” he said.

Lt. Joe Gamino, a homicide detective, said another facet of the problem is that Houston has become a major drug transshipment point. He said the replacement of established neighborhoods with vast apartment complexes added to the impersonality of the city’s residents.

“There is a feeling of ‘so what if I’m killing this person. We have nothing in common,’ ” Gamino said.

The people charged with keeping the peace think the worst may be yet to come in Houston, primarily because there has been much talk and little action in curbing the number of robberies around the city.

“I don’t think we’ve hit the high point,” McWilliams said. “We really haven’t started doing anything to address the problem.”