WASHINGTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE REPORT
Sheriff Otto Hanak presents the Washington County Sheriff's Office monthly report to the Commissioner’s Court on the third Tuesday of each month. During the month of June, deputies performed the following functions. These functions represent a small sample of over 100 incident/offense categories tracked and reported by the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
1) Responded to 1,769 incidents/calls
2) 54,741 miles driven
3) 114 traffic tickets written
4) 225 traffic warnings
5) 347 Traffic stops
5) 67 reckless driving calls
6) 64 false alarms
7) 73 loose livestock calls
8) 43 animal/animal bite calls
9) 129 arrests – felony and misdemeanor
10) 38 request to verify welfare of individual
11) 61 calls of “assistance rendered” to motorists and outside agencies
12) 175 warrants (felony and misdemeanor) executed
13) 16 - business checks/foot patrol
14) 459 - license plate verifications
***June 26, 2015 – Passed surprise jail inspection performed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
A small sample of felony level activities performed by The Washington County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division and Deputies activities since May 1, 2015 are as follows:
1) Felony arrest –Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon
2) Felony arrest – Aggravated Robbery
3) Felony arrest – Forgery – Counterfeiting U.S. Currency
4) Felony arrest - Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle – Stolen Vehicle Recovered
5) Felony arrest - Burglary of a Building – Stolen Property Recovered
6) Felony arrest – Sexual Assault
7) Felony arrest – Theft
8) Felony arrest – Fugitive – Theft by Deception
The Washington County Sheriff’s jail, transport, and support staff performed the following functions:
1) 135 male suspects booked into the jail
2) 49 female suspects booked into the jail
3) 14 inmates transferred to T.D.C.
4) Nearing completion of repainting and repairing jail structure with inmate and staff labor. Saving hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.
5) Removed 85,800 pounds of trees, brush, and timber from our county roads with inmate and staff labor. Relates to saving $6,385.00
Since January 1, 2015 and until June 30, 2015, Deputies have responded to over 10,554 incidents that required law enforcement action or involvement of some type. In addition, we have responded to 296 false alarm calls and 372 loose livestock calls in our county that covers over 600 square miles. During this same time frame, our deputies, have executed over 830 arrest warrants, checked on over 2,376 vehicles while on daily patrols, have made over 1629 traffic stops, and driven over 436,300 miles while patrolling our rural roadway, subdivisions, and neighborhoods. We have been involved in the investigation of over 230 traffic wrecks. We currently have two (2) or three (3) deputies working per shift.
In able to prevent the consequences of criminal activity directed to our citizens, please assist the Washington County Sheriff's Office by making sure you remove valuables from your vehicles when they are parked, that you secure your residence when you leave, that you know your neighbors well enough that they look for you and your property, that you are aware of your surroundings at all times, and that you call law enforcement when your suspicions are raised. In addition, help us all by making sure your business and residential alarms are working properly to avoid false alarms. We must do all we can to reduce the 668 calls so far this year related to false alarms and loose livestock. Scams remain at an all-time with criminals finding new ways to make us feel threatened in hopes you will send them money or even convincing our citizens they have won an out of state lottery. Feel free to contact law enforcement should our citizens feel a scam is in the works and we will do all we can to assist you and hopefully prevent you from becoming a crime victim.
The Washington County Dispatch Center non-emergency number of 979-337-7272 or if an emergency, always call 911. The main number for the Washington County Sheriff's Office is 979-277-6251 and feel free to visit our website at www.washingtoncosheriff.org
It’s nice to see that we have a County office willing to save taxpayer dollars by innovative means. I sure hope the commissioners see the effort put forth by the Sheriff’s Office to help not only to the maintenance of the county, but saving money as well. Hopefully the commissioners will be willing to allocate saved funds to the Sheriff’s Office to use for additional deputies, decent salaries, and equipment needed to keep fighting crime. Imagine how great those stats could be if the Sheriff’s Office had the necessary equipment to really hinder criminals.