Operation: Reform

Cutting Crime

Sheriff Adrian Garcia has already taken several important steps to cut crime in Harris County and to keep our communities safe.

In his inaugural speech, Adrian Garcia declared he would revive the Department’s cold case squad. Once in office, Adrian did just that and, recently, the new squad solved nine murder cases.

During the campaign, Sheriff Garcia promised to be the agency’s top recruiter. He has definitely become so. The Department has filled all of its vacancies for civilian detention officers and has already cut patrol deputy vacancies by two thirds. That means more deputies on the streets and in our neighborhoods.

Sheriff Garcia has also added more officers to the internal affairs unit with the result that cases are processed faster. This cut the wait time for officers who are cleared of any wrongdoing to be returned to the streets where they can protect the community. And officers who do need to be replaced can be replaced more quickly.

Upon taking office, Sheriff Garcia saw the need to reform the Burglary Apprehension Response Squad (B.A.R.S.), which had strayed too far from its mission of solving burglaries. He replaced this unit with a Safe Communities Unit that has already increased the rate of solved cases over and above a comparable time frame in 2008.

Sheriff Garcia has also worked to engage the community in the county’s crime fighting efforts. He routinely conducts town hall meetings where he rallies communities to join in the effort to cut crime, listens to specific concerns from each neighborhood and offers fingerprinting services for the security of children.

In a move that has implications for our national economy as well as the safety of Harris County residents, Sheriff Garcia’s department has taken the lead on a new port security effort.

Sheriff Adrian Garcia knows he was elected to reform the Sheriff’s Department and to cut crime in Harris County. The people of Harris County want a sheriff who is an experienced crime fighter and who will work in a nonpartisan way to keep our streets safe. That’s why Sheriff Adrian Garcia will wake up every day with one thing on his mind—making Harris County a safer place to live.

Bringing Transparency to the Sheriff’s Department

Adrian Garcia has made great progress on his promises to clean up the mess he inherited at the sheriff’s department. In just a short time, he has brought our much-maligned county jail into state compliance. He did this by personally overseeing reforms and bringing transparency to the department prompting the National Institute of Corrections to write in its report on the Harris County Jail System:

“Other jail systems could look to this jail system to provide examples of ‘best practices’ in many areas. This is an example of an agency that practices what it states — it is a transparent organization.”

Sheriff Adrian Garcia is keeping his promise to bring transparency to the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.

Community-Oriented Policing

When Adrian Garcia began running for sheriff , he heard one sentiment over and over from voters—“we’ve never seen the sheriff, we’ve never heard from him.”

Adrian heard this concern loud and clear and has pledged to be more accessible and visible to the community. To this end, he regularly holds town halls in various parts of the county giving citizens the opportunity to voice their thoughts on crime prevention issues. Through these town halls, citizens can voice their concerns to the sheriff directly.

Adrian has also engages groups from across the ethnic, social, economic and political spectrum to ensure he is getting the whole story of what is going on in Harris County.

In describing Adrian’s visit to the African community in southwest Harris county, the International Guardian newspaper noted, “[t]he last time a top cop made it to the southwest side to court Africans was way back.” International Guardian, June 2009.

Adrian Garcia knows that to protect the community, you must first be in the community.

A Leading 21st Century Law Enforcement Agency

Sheriff Adrian Garcia has looked to other law enforcement agencies across the country to find best practices for keeping our county safe. He has served as a law enforcement consultant for the U.S. State Department—teaching officers in other countries how best to operate. His current reform agenda is based on practices that get results wherever they are employed. Adrian’s reforms are aimed at taking the Harris County Sheriff’s Department from a troubled law enforcement agency to one that serves as a model for agencies statewide, nationally and even internationally.