P U B L I C S A F E T Y
CONTINUED FROM 1
Sheri ’s o ce dealswith lack of newdeputies
The Cy-Fair area is served by Harris County Sheri ’s O ce districts 4 and 5. S H E R I F F S TA F F I NG
BY SHAWN ARRAJJ
406,000, respectively. From 2014-19, the total number of patrol deputies working in the sher- i ’s o ce dropped from 681 to 619, according to department data. When that gure is separated into district deputies, who serve the sheri ’s o ce full time, and contract deputies, who serve speci c communities on a con- tract fee basis, the drop-o becomes even steeper: The department gained 85 contract deputies between 2014 and 2019 while losing 142 district dep- uties over that time. Contract deputies can spend between 70%-100% of their time within the areas they are contracted to patrol. Spencer said the recent shift toward contract deputies and away from district deputies is a re ection of an increase in the number of commu- nities who have chosen to participate in that program over time. The o ce’s request for 260 deputies was meant to increase patrols in noncontract areas, he said. “The bottom line is our funding for patrol deputies has not kept pace with the signi cant population growth we’ve seen in unincorporated Harris County,” he said. Analyzing patrol needs As of September 2019, District 4 had 65 district deputies and 108 con- tract deputies, while District 5 had 48 district deputies and 83 contract dep- uties, according to HCSO data. The sheri ’s o ce budget requests were based on a sta ng analysis con- ducted between September 2018 and August 2019, researchers said. The analysis found that Harris County lags behind other law enforcement agencies in terms of law enforcement employees per 1,000 residents. With roughly 1.14 deputies per 1,000 resi- dents, Harris County employed only about half the rate of the national average of 2.4 law enforcement employees per 1,000 residents and the state average of 2.2 deputies per 1,000 residents. With the recent request for more deputies unful lled, collaboration with other law enforcement agen- cies will be increasingly important in places such as Cy-Fair, o cials said. The Cy-Fair area is patrolled by the Harris County Precinct 4 Consta- ble’s O ce east of Hwy. 290 and the Precinct 5 Constable’s O ce west of
When Harris County Sheri Ed Gonzalez addressed county commis- sioners in January with his budget requests for the department for scal year 2020-21, population growth in unincorporated parts of the county— which the sheri ’s o ce is tasked with patrolling—was on his mind. At a Jan. 28 commissioners court meeting, Gonzalez asked for about $19.9 million in additional funding, money that would primarily be used to fund 260 new deputy positions and 21 new investigators, among other needs. “We have operational needs that need to be met with a growing county,” he said at the Jan. 28 meet- ing. “Domestic violence reduction is a priority as are other proactive crime reduction services. We have to make sure our training [and] our personnel are keeping up.” However, the nal budget approved by the court Feb. 11 included no funds for additional personnel, said Jason Spencer, director of public a airs for the sheri ’s o ce. An increase of $11.4 million for patrol and adminis- tration was enough to cover medical bene ts and a 2% pay increase for all employees. The budget also included $4.6 million in discretionary funds, which Spencer said is being used to fund an additional 1% raise for all sworn law enforcement personnel, bringing the total raise to 3%. At the Jan. 28 meeting, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo suggested the sheri hold o on hiring new dep- uties until after the completion of an ongoing study into the county’s over- all criminal justice system. In the meantime, o cials with the sheri ’s o ce said they will continue to work with what they have, includ- ing collaborative e orts with local The population in the Cy-Fair area has increased from roughly 510,000 to 580,000 between 2013 and 2018, according to ve-year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. As of 2019, the populations of the two sher- i districts that cover the broader northwest Harris County area—Dis- trict 4, from Hwy. 249 to Hwy. 290, and District 5, from Hwy. 290 to I-10 West—were around 462,000 and constable o cers. Population boom
H C S O D I S T R I C T 4 Population: 462,743 1 deputy per 2,380 residents Deputies: 194 H C S O D I S T R I C T 5 Population: 406,647 1 deputy per 2,904 residents Deputies: 140
249
290
99 TOLL
6
10
N
DATA AS OF SEPTEMBER 2019
D RO P P I NG D E P U T I E S The Harris County Sheri ’s O ce has seen a decrease in number of deputies over the past ve years as well as a hiring shift away from district deputies and toward contract deputies.
Contract deputies
2014
2019
are typically hired by homeowners associations and designated to work a certain area on a fee basis. work directly for the sheri ’s o ce and can cover a broader area and respond to all calls. District deputies
246
326
Total 681
Total 619
435
293
Population: 1.56 million
Population: 2.06 million
B U D G E T B R E A K DOWN Despite increases in funding, the Harris County Sheri ’s O ce has struggled to add more deputies.
Patrol and administration A budget increase of $11.4 million in 2020 will be used to provide 2% raises for all employees. It will not fund any new deputy positions.
$100M $150M $200M $250M
0 $50M
Medical bene ts
A budget increase of $4.1 million will help fund increased medical costs related to detention.
2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY OFFICE OF BUDGET MANAGEMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Hwy. 290. As of press time March 10, county commissioners were expected to dis- cuss a study into the implementation of a combined dispatching system between constables and the sheri ’s o ce at a March 10 meeting. However, Gonzalez said the more
the sheri ’s o ce is able to func- tion on its own, the better, especially when it comes to growing needs for tra c enforcement. “We’re working collaboratively with the constables and others, but we need to make sure we’re growing on our own on that,” he said.
38
COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook