Harris County Sheriff's Office
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The Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is a local law enforcement agency serving the over four million citizens of Harris County, Texas, United States. It is headquartered on the first and second floors in the 1200 Baker Street Jail in Downtown Houston.[1][2]
As of the 2010 U.S. census, the county had a population of 4.1 million, making it the most populous county in Texas and the third most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston. The Harris County Sheriff's Office has approximately 3,500 employees and is the largest sheriff's office in the state of Texas and the sixth largest in the nation. The number one and two largest sheriff's offices in the nation are respectively the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in California and the Cook County Sheriff's Office in Illinois. The third, fourth, and fifth are the Broward County Sheriff's Office in Florida, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Florida, and the San Diego County Sheriff's Office in California.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the Script error: No such module "convert". of unincorporated area of Harris County, serving as the equivalent of the county police for the approximately 1,071,485 people living in the unincorporated areas of the county. In Texas, sheriffs and their deputies are fully empowered peace officers with county-wide jurisdiction and thus, may legally exercise their authority in unincorporated and incorporated areas of their county; they primarily provide law enforcement services for only the unincorporated areas of a county, while yielding to municipal police or city marshals to provide law enforcement services for the incorporated areas. Sheriffs and their deputies also have statewide warrantless arrest powers for any criminal offense (except certain traffic offenses) committed within their presence or view.[3] They also may make arrests with a warrant anywhere in the state.[4] In an emergency, sheriffs along with mayors and district judges are empowered by state law to call forth the National Guard to preserve the peace.[5]
The jurisdiction of the Harris County Sheriff's Office often overlaps with several other law enforcement agencies, among them the Texas Highway Patrol, the eight Harris County Constable Precincts, and several municipal police agencies including the city of Houston Police Department. The duties of a Texas sheriff generally include keeping the county jail, providing bailiffs for the county and district courts within his county and serving process issued by said courts, and providing general law enforcement services to residents. The current sheriff of Harris County is Ed Gonzalez, elected in 2016 and has been in office since January 1, 2017.
History
John Moore was sworn in as the first sheriff of what was then called Harrisburg County (later renamed Harris County) in February 1837. Among the oldest law enforcement agencies in Texas, the department has grown from a single man on horseback to a modern agency with 3500 employees, including over 2500 sworn officers.
On May 31, 2017, John Hernandez died after being placed in a choke hold after a fight by officers Terry Thompson and Chauna Thompson, a married couple.[6] The death was ruled a homicide by the Harris County medical examiner on June 6, 2017, and both Thompsons were charged with murder.[7]
In 2025, four of the department's deputies committed suicide in the space of four weeks, prompting national coverage.[8][9]
Sheriffs
Harris County sheriffs:
| Name | Dates |
|---|---|
| John W. Moore | 1837-1841 |
| John Fitzgerald | 1841-1843 |
| Mangus T. Rodgers | 1844-1846 |
| David Russell | 1846-1850 |
| James B. Hogan | 1850-1854 |
| Thomas M. Hogan | 1854-1856 |
| John R. Grymes | 1856-1858 |
| George W. Frazier | 1858-1861 |
| B.P. Lanham | 1861-1865 |
| John Proudfoot | 1866 |
| Irvin Capters Lord | 1866 |
| A.B. Hall | 1866-1873 |
| Sam S. Ashe | 1873-1875 |
| Cornelius M. Noble | 1876-1883 |
| John J. Fant | 1884-1886 |
| George W. Ellis | 1887-1895 |
| Albert Erichson | 1896 |
| W. M. Baugh | 1897-1898 |
| Archie Anderson | 1899-1912 |
| Marion F. Hammond | 1913-1918 |
| Thomas A. Binford | 1919-1936 |
| Norfleet Hill | 1937-1942 |
| Neal Polk | 1942-1948 |
| Clairville "Buster" Kern | 1949-1972 |
| Jack Heard | 1973-1984 |
| Johnny Klevenhagen | 1985-1995 |
| Tommy Thomas | 1995-2009 |
| Adrian Garcia | 2009–2015 |
| Ron Hickman | 2015-2017 |
| Ed Gonzalez | 2017- |
Fallen officers
Since the establishment of the Harris County Sheriff's Department, 45 officers have died in the line of duty.[10]
| Officer | Date of death | Details |
|---|---|---|
Carl F. Courts Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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November 30, 1895 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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James A. Reed Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Arthur Taylor Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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William C. Williams Jr. Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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April 16, 1930 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Joe Trapolino Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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May 23, 1936 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Theron Eldridge (Eddie) Shofner Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Leo Busby Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Donald E. Knowlton Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Walter Howard Harvey Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Fred B. Peebles Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Edd Williams Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Rodney Scott Morgan Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Jimmie Howard McKay Sr. Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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James A. Wier Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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August 18, 1978 Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Joe Mason Westbrook Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Albert Ochoa Garza Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Royce Melvin Anderson Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Reginald Floyd Norwood Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Haskell Junior McCoy Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Clark Harold Henry Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Richard Maurice Blackwell Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Jeffery Scott Sanford Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Ricky A. Yates Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
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Correction facilities
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The Harris County Sheriff's Office's correction facilities are located in Downtown Houston, all within a block of one another.[11] They include the 1200 Jail (located at 1200 Baker Street),[12] the 701 Jail,[13] and the 1307 Jail.[14] Previously 1301 Franklin and 301 San Jacinto were jails.[15][16]
since 2012[update]Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". the Harris County jail facilities together have a capacity for 9,434 inmates; at time they have held over 12,000. Due to the excess number of prisoners, the HCSO had to ship inmates to other jails, including some in Louisiana; in June 2010 1,600 Harris County inmates were serving time at other jails. By January 2012 the Harris County jails had 8,573, a decrease by 31% from 2008 to 2012, and there were only 21 inmates serving time in other jail facilities, all in Texas.[17]
The county opened the Atascocita boot camp in 1991, but it closed in September 2004 as the county decided that its rehabilitation value was questionable.[18] The vocational programs, once at the camp, were transferred to the Downtown area.[19]
On February 15, 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a federal civil rights investigation into the jail after dozens of inmate deaths in the past few years: 21 in 2021, 28 in 2022, and 4 in the first two months of 2023.[20]
See also
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- List of law enforcement agencies in Texas
- Crime in Houston
- Montgomery County, Texas Sheriff's Office
References
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- ↑ The 1200 Jail." Harris County, Texas. Accessed September 12, 2008. "The Sheriff's Office and Administration including the Business Office, Central Patrol, Human Resources, Public Services, Support Services and the Sheriffs Special Assistant are housed on the first and second floors outside of the security perimeter."
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- ↑ "Inmate Visitation Policies Template:Webarchive." Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
- ↑ "Medical Template:Webarchive." Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
- ↑ "701 North San Jacinto." Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
- ↑ "The 1307 Jail Template:Webarchive," Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
- ↑ "1301 Franklin facility." Harris County Sheriff's Office. February 22, 2003. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
- ↑ "301 San Jacinto." Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved on May 28, 2010.
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Further reading
- Collier, Kiah. "Sheriff's LGBT jail policy draws praise, questions." Houston Chronicle. November 25, 2013.
External links
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