Republican Law Enforcement

» Chron: Bond proposal targets staffing at county jail (Steve McVicker)
» Chron: Letter to the Editor (Sheriff Tommy Thomas)
» Grits: Harris County officials wrong to think they'll build their way out of jail overcrowding
» Kuff: County bonds and staffing issues

Starting from Kuff:

I hear an awful lot about the staffing and overtime issues at HPD. For some reason, the same problems within the Harris County Sheriff's Department doesn't get nearly the same level of attention. One wonders why that might be.

Surely it couldn't be due to the fact that the Sheriff has an (R) next to his name. I mean, the same folks who try to pass of their COH criticisms as void of partisan envy wouldn't dare do such a thing, would they? The fact that the same phenomenon hits both HPD and the HCSO just might be a point lost on them.

Over at Grits, Scott captures much of the glaring problems with Harris County's jail overcrowding. He also touches on a point that I want to amplify a bit after reading the Sheriff's letter to the editor.

What immediately stood out in that letter, to me, was Thomas' predictable rightwing canard of claiming media bias as a means of softening what ought to be an obvious blow to his office's management. It just furthers my argument that what our Republican friends are really after isn't fairness in the media. Rather, they just want the natives (and nativists) to discount whatever legitimate bad news ultimately lands on their doorstep.

Beyond that, there's Thomas' own problematic argument. On the one hand, staffing issues are allegedly improving. Never mind that he compares a net increase of HCSO employees in total to the loss of jailers in specific. I don't think it's too much to expect that if there was a substantial net increase in the number of jailers, that number might make Thomas' talking points:

Although he states that "563 civilian detention officers and 680 deputies are assigned to the jail," he doesn't mention that such numbers represent significant increases in detention personnel during the past year.

The Harris County sheriff's office is making significant improvements in its jail staffing. So far this calendar year, the sheriff's office has hired more new employees than in all of 2006.

Although the office has experienced some separations from employment recently, since last July, there has been a net gain of more than 160 new employees.

So what's the net increase (assuming there's one) assigned to the jails? I'm sure the local rightwing blogs are totally sold on Tommy's spin, so I guess I'll be the one to ask the question myself.

That Thomas would have the temerity to describe the county's bond proposal as an indication that "jail administrators continue to anticipate needs before they arise and to address them in a timely manner" is made laughable as we spend $4M to ship county inmates off to Louisiana. By definition, it seems to be a few days late and several million dollars short.

Sheesh, if it's not bad enough that our Governor is looking to Mississippi for ideas in education, having local law enforcement take cues from Louisiana isn't all that more promising.