As Editor of the Northwest Security Coordinators’ Association newsletter, NWSCA, I would like to share my thoughts and comments concerning the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. 

When I first started as a Security Coordinator in District One, the Sheriff’s Department had about 48 Sheriff Deputies covering the same area now patrolled by over 150 Sheriff Deputies.  Due to the heavy volume of calls for assistance, these 48 deputies did not have the time to do proactive policing.  Crime victims had to wait until a patrol car arrived, and then the deputy only had time to get vital information because calls for assistance were stacking up during those far too often peak times.  Not a good situation but it is one that many people experienced first hand.

Civic Associations were faced with prioritizing residential funds to keep streetlights on or to add deputies to fight the growing crime problem.  In most instances, criminal activity made the decision easy; adding more contract deputies became the norm.  Thus, the contract deputy program grew out of a desperate need to protect the families, businesses, and apartments in the FM 1960 area.  FM 1960 represented an area where the American Dream consisted of apple pie, motherhood, and safe neighborhoods patrolled by contract deputies.

When Tommy Thomas became Sheriff of Harris County, not only did we get over 100 additional Sheriff Deputies; we began to hear his firm voice expressing ideas on fighting crime. Families as well as civic leaders deserved to have a voice in the crime issues facing our neighborhoods.  To open dialogue with the “man on the street,” Sheriff  Thomas created the Sheriff Interactive Group (SIG) for the expressed purpose of meeting directly with the people.  On October 27th, Sheriff Thomas is holding his fifth District One SIG meeting to allow you - the people who live in the FM 1960 area to meet and discuss crime issues directly with the Sheriff Department.

As President of the NWSCA, I am very proud of the accomplishments of Sheriff Thomas in adding patrol deputies and making our community asafer place to live and work.  Sheriff Thomas has shown that Community Oriented Policing does work as evidenced by a drop in crime.  There is still work to be done in reducing crime even further.  Sheriff Thomas has created an opportunity for each person to personally visit a conveniently located Sheriff’s Department’s  Store Front, attend a local SIG meeting or even get help through our NWSCA newsletter or web site.

Our NWSCA group would like to encourage each of you to attend this SIG meeting and bring a friend.  If you have a crime problem - big or small - we especially want to hear from you.  Do not wait for someone else to do it - get involved and help keep our community safe.  Let us all fight crime by standing united behind Sheriff Thomas and his Community Oriented Policing program.  Community involvement brings attention and focus on the problem - the first step in solving a problem.

I hope to see you on October 27, at 7111 Five Forks at the Cypress Creek Educational Center.  Five Forks is just north of Louetta Road of Stubner-Airline.  Meeting will start promptly at 7:00 PM. and will last about a hour.***