CATCHING UP WITH ALL THE WORK AT THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT!

255 CASES CLOSED AND DEPUTIES GO BACK TO WORK!

Press Release: The Office of Inspector General of the Harris County Sheriff's Office has successfully reduced a backlog of internal affairs investigations that had left in limbo many deputies who can now return to full work status.

In 2009, the sheriff's first year in office, the OIG closed 255 complaint cases - about three times as many as in 2008.

This milestone allows Sheriff Adrian Garcia to redeploy four personnel who had been assigned to the OIG.

When the sheriff took office in January 2009, many internal investigations had been pending for several months -- some for more than a year. He reorganized the pre-existing OIG and Internal Affairs Division (IAD), which were separate offices. He consolidated them in March and added nine personnel from throughout the agency, producing a total staff of 48. The number now drops to 44, in a total HCSO workforce of about 4,000.

"I'm pleased and relieved to be able to say our strategy worked," the sheriff said. "By strengthening our internal investigation bureau, we were able to put more of our personnel back into active law enforcement jobs while more quickly isolating the few who needed corrective action. And of course we were able to pay utmost respect to our working men and women by resolving complaints against them in a responsibly quicker manner. In a time when we must do more with less, I have redeployed personnel department-wide, which included the Office of Inspector General."

The mission of the Office of Inspector General is to protect and preserve the public trust and confidence in the employees of the Harris County Sheriff's Office by conducting thorough and impartial investigations regarding allegations of employee misconduct. The OIG is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring the HCSO's approximately 4,000 employees meet and/or exceed the highest standards of honesty, integrity, accountability, and efficiency. The OIG accomplishes this mission by conducting independent investigations, audits, inspections, proactive measure, and special reviews of Sheriff's Office personnel, policies and/or practices in a continuing effort to promote integrity, reduce waste, increase efficiency and improve upon the overall effectiveness of the services being delivered by the employees of the Sheriff's Office. The OIG is headed by Major James Kirk.

"Investigating complaints against employees made by citizens or staff is one of the most difficult assignments one could have. I am proud of the men and women who have been true professionals in how they handle these issues on behalf of the community and our employees," Garcia said.