The Harris County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency in the 1,118 square miles (2,900 km2) 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.[4] They also may make arrests with a warrant anywhere in the state.[5] 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.[6]
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
Traffic Division
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.[7] The death was ruled a homicide by the Harris County medical examiner on June 6, 2017, and both Thompsons were charged with murder.[8]
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.[9]
The Harris County Sheriff's Office's correction facilities are located in Downtown Houston, all within a block of one another.[10] They include the 1200 Jail (located at 1200 Baker Street),[11] the 701 Jail,[12] and the 1307 Jail.[13] Previously 1301 Franklin and 301 San Jacinto were jails.[14][15]
As of 2012[update] 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.[16]
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.[17] The vocational programs, once at the camp, were transferred to the Downtown area.[18]
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.[19]
^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."
^"Contact". Harris County Sheriff's Office. Retrieved 2019-07-12. Harris County Sheriff's Office 1200 Baker Street Houston, TX 77002
