Do you feel more comfortable when you know a little bit about the people making decisions that impact upon our daily lives?  It is really much more comforting to know about their backgrounds and their personalities.  With that in mind,  the following is information on the two top officials in the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Tommy Thomas and Chief Deputy D.V. “Red” McKaskle.  These two men make decisions that impact directly upon our safety and after reading about their backgrounds, you may feel just a little more comfortable knowing our safety is their first priority.
 
First, is Sheriff Tommy Thomas.  Sheriff Thomas joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1968, after he was honorably discharged from the United States Army.  He served as an investigator for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office from 1970 - 72.  He returned to the Sheriff’s Department in 1973.
 
Sheriff Thomas served as Director of Security for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1973 until 1995.  He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Harris County Narcotics Task Force for seven years, and is a former president of the Texas Narcotics Officers Association.  He also serves on the Criminal Justice Advisory Board of the University of Houston/Downtown, the Advisory Council for the Katy Independent School District’s Partners in Education Program, and the Board of Directors for the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Junior Achievements, Greater Heights Chamber of Commerce, and the Harris County Precinct 1 Street Olympics.  Sheriff Thomas is a graduate of the Department of Justice’s prestigious National Executive Institute in Washington, D.C.
 
Sheriff Thomas and his wife, Debi, have two sons.  Brock is a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and Brent is a student at Katy High School.  Sheriff Thomas is involved in numerous civic and community activities as well as the First United Methodist Church of Katy.
 
Significant changes have taken place within the Sheriff’s Department under Sheriff Thomas’ leadership.  He appointed the first women and the first Hispanic to the Command Staff.  In an effort to strengthen the Department’s street law enforcement presence, he has put  an additional 240 patrol officers on the street without increasing taxes, and has tripled the size of the Department’s Family Violence Unit.  Additionally, he has initiated a program county-wide of Sheriff’s Department Store Fronts.
 
One of next most crucial positions within the Sheriff’s Department is that of Chief Deputy.  In 1995, Sheriff Thomas appointed D.V. “Red” McKaskle to   take over in this area.  As the Chief administrator for the largest Sheriff’s Department in the State of Texas, he is responsible for the management of a 3700 person organization, and an annual budget in excess of $182,000,000.
 
Chief D.V. “Red” McKaskle is a graduate of Reagan High School in the Houston Heights, and of Sam Houston State University in Huntsvillle, Texas.  Red retired from the Texas Department of Corrections in 1985, after a 23 year career, during which he worked his way up through the ranks, serving as Interim Director during the last year of his tenure.
 
Chief McKaskle’s expertise in the corrections field uniquely qualified him for a 1991 appointment as a Major with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, where he assumed command of inmate housing in the Detention Bureau.  He was subsequently assigned to head the Department’s Detention Command, which included all jail operations, bailiffs, process servers, personnel services, and criminal/fugitive warrants.
 
There are over 300 new inmates (newly arrested) added to the jail each and everyday of the year.  That means in practical terms, there are 300 more outfits, 600 additional  pairs of shoes and socks, plus a multitude of personal belongs that must be categorized and kept while the inmate is incarcerated in the county jail. There are about 8,000 prisoners at any given moment in the jail.  Just feeding eight thousand people three meals a day seems a bit overwhelming and keeping track of personal belongs of jail inmates is another awesome job by anyone’s standard.
 In subsequent issues of the NWSCA, we will introduce the next level of management in the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.
 
There are many dedicated, unsung heroes performing jobs that impact upon the safety of residents of Harris County as well as visitors.  Each day as we go about the business of our own lives, law enforcement personnel are reporting to work and performing these crucial tasks.
For each patrol deputy on the street there are dozens of law enforcement personnel behind the scene performing crucial jobs that impacts directly upon the safety of residents and visitors in Harris County.
 
This area of county government is a well operated giant devoted exclusively to the personal safety of each person living or visiting in Harris County.