SHERIFF HANAK CALLS FOR LONG-TERM PLAN FROM COUNTY LEADERS
Washington County Sheriff Otto Hanak is calling on local leaders to, “develop a long term plan for what is coming our way” and not to take a “wait and see attitude.”
Sheriff Hanak issued an end-of-year statement to local media, Friday, urging an initiation of what he calls, “meaningful conversations with each other as well as with community and state leaders.”
Sheriff Otto Hanak's complete 2017 End-of-Year address:
As the elected Sheriff of Washington County, I want to thank our citizens who have continued to support our men and women in uniform for the past 5 years. It is this type of support that allows them to come to work each and every day dressed in a bullet proof vest and willing to take argument, threats, abusive language, and sometimes violence directed at them and move on without serious incident or conflict.
As administrators over these men and women in uniform, it is our hope and prayer that we do all we can to provide them with the best training, knowledge, experience, and salaries that will give them some sort of comfort when enforcing laws and dealing with extreme danger. So often the tasks our deputies perform daily are taken for granted, as we all sometimes forget how dangerous it is to respond to calls of violence or to work a 12 hour shift in the jail. As your Sheriff, friend, relative and neighbor, I ask for your continued support of all law enforcement officers as we begin our sixth year and pray that year 2018 remains calm and without mishap to our men and women in uniform nationwide.
Since moving to Washington County 21 years ago, it has become obvious that Houston is moving our direction and with that said, not only will good follow, but bad as well as we have already witnessed. As time has passed and I have become more involved in local governmental activities and discussions with local officials and business leaders, I have learned a great deal about our county and its internal operations. With that in mind, I am now faced with making tougher decisions on how your elected law enforcement agency must operate to insure the safety and security of all of our citizens and visitors. My office is doing all it can with its limited resources to provide professional law enforcement services and to make certain that we are adequately trained to handle just about any given situation. I must continue to ask for, with adequate justification, those things deemed necessary to fight the criminal elements and stop them in their tracks. Our command staff, which consists of just eight, has a combined total of 191 years of service in law enforcement and corrections and this type experience certainly allows for educated common sense decisions related to the services we provide and the proper utilization of tax dollars.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office, as is with most Texas law enforcement agencies, is facing new jail mandates with the Sandra Bland Act in effect, new training requirements for peace officers, tougher hiring standards, and elevating various levels of education standards. None of this comes cheap with the price tag growing each year. We can reduce these costs by securing those employees that we have so much invested in rather than continue to be the training ground for all others. For 5 years, I have witnessed some of the brightest and best walk out our doors to take jobs down the street or elsewhere mostly due to the pay and lack of a salary structure. With our huge turnover rate comes inexperience on our streets and jail system, which obviously can be avoided with clear and educated thought. I want our citizens to know our deputies by name, to recognize them on and off duty, and to develop a sense of respect for the jobs they do.
It is time for our county leaders to develop a long term plan for what is coming our way and we cannot have the wait and see attitude. Whether this plan involves infrastructure, neighborhoods, commercial enterprise or providing adequate funding for law enforcement and corrections, we must at least initiate meaningful conversations with each other as well as with community and state leaders.
It has been my privilege to have served the State of Texas for over 30 years as a State Trooper and Texas Ranger and now to have served as your Sheriff in the best county in the State of Texas. I look forward to serving as your Sheriff as long as our citizens believe that I am doing the best job possible in providing professional law enforcement service and protection to our citizens and visitors.