Adrian Garcia

Lone Star College Stabbings

Dylan Quick, 20, charged with aggravated assault.

Dylan Quick Update: All Victims in Lone Star College Stabbing Recovering, Suspect May Have Discussed Attack in Chat Room

A day after the mass stabbing at the Lone Star-Cy Fair campus, it appears that all 14 victims in Tuesday's attack will recover. According to Lone Star-Cy Fair President Audre Levy, seven of the victims have already left the hospital, and the four with the worst injuries have stabilized and been move ... More >>

Faces Of Prostitution: Mugshots Of The Women Busted In "Operation Red Light"

The Harris County Sheriff's Office led a multi-agency investigation into local prostitution, because apparently it was time to put an end to the World's Oldest Profession On the night of February 20 eight massage parlors were targeted, HCSO says, "as follow up to the recently adopted Harris County ... More >>

On Second Thought

Carlton Berry and Quanell X hold a dumb press conference asking Sheriff Garcia for an apology.

Carlton Berry and Quanell X Hold a Dumb Press Conference Asking Sheriff Garcia for an Apology

There was so much stupid on display at Quanell X's press conference Tuesday for Carlton Berry, the man originally charged with a shooting at Lone Star College, that it's hard to tell where to begin. First, the fact that Berry is even seeking an apology from Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia is ki ... More >>

Five Exceptions to Straight Ticket Voting in Harris County

In spite of several indisputably bad candidates on either side of the aisle, apparently tens of thousands of Harris County residents are still going to vote straight ticket. Maybe those people are just lazy. Maybe it gives them a jolt of pride or even spite, as in "I am going to stick it to those i ... More >>

County Attorney Sues David J. Hester & His "Illegal Game Room"

Saying that owner David J. Hester is operating an illegal game room at 7304 East Freeway in Baytown, Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan has filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary injunction to shut down this "common nuisance." According to the lawsuit, "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office h ... More >>

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia Intensifies The SOBER Program

There's a better chance these days a deputy of Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia will come knocking on the front door of your home demanding proof that your once-drunk self is remaining clean and sober. The Harris County Sheriff's Office is in the middle of an increased push in its SOBER program ... More >>

Jay Lee: Local Photographer Threatened With Lawsuit by Woman Who Used Copyrighted Photo Without Permission

When Houston photographer, Houston Chronicle blogger, and KPFT tech-talk show co-host Jay Lee found out last month that one of his copyrighted pics of Houston's skyline had been used without permission on multiple websites, he sent the web hosts a Digital Millenium Copyright Act notice informing the ... More >>

100 Arrested in Highway Drug Crackdown After 900 Pulled Over for "Alleged Traffic Violations"

Memo to those involved in the drug trade: Follow traffic rules, make sure your car's registration and inspection are current and don't have any busted taillights. That's the lesson that might be learned from the recent crackdown led by the Harris County Sheriff's Office. HCSO says it pulled over 9 ... More >>

The Harris County Sheriff's Office Is (Finally) Hiring Again

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia has lifted a hiring freeze that began in October 2009, touting steps he's taken to balance the department's budget. "The hiring freeze is over," Garcia said. "Our budget controls have put us in a better position for the future. I will make sure we hold the line o ... More >>

Jimmy George: Sheriff's Deputy Arrested for Pretending to Work

The Harris County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 15-year veteran because he reported he was working a crime scene when he actually wasn't. Deputy Jimmy George was charged with the felony of tampering with a government record and has been fired from the force, the HCSO announced. "My deputies are ... More >>

IWatch Harris County App from the Sheriff's Department Poorly Designed

The IWatch welcome screen.​The best smartphone apps meant for functionality rather than entertainment fill a need, are easy to use and provide appropriate functionality for the task at hand. The Harris County Sheriff's Department IWatch Harris County app delivers about one-and-a-half of those ... More >>

No More Juveniles Isolated In Harris County Jail?

Problem may be solved​Two years ago we wrote about how Harris County incarcerates juveniles who have been certified as adults for trial while they are waiting their day in court. It wasn't pretty -- they were kept in the county jail, but left in isolation for 23 hours a day. Legislators, par ... More >>

Sheriff Asks Congress for More Money to Patrol Port

HCSOGive me more money, Garcia said.​Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia told a congressional subcommittee today that he needs more cash to protect the Port of Houston. "At the end of the day, it comes down to the ability of someone to patrol in a patrol boat or a patrol car," he told the Ho ... More >>

Mexican Drug Cartel: U.S. Rep and Sheriff Talk Tough on Keeping Them Out of Houston

The Mexican drug cartels didn't reckon on McCaul and Garcia.​U.S. Representative Mike McCaul and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia met today and said they are going to do whatever it takes to stop Mexican drug cartels from coming to Houston. Because we want our coke and weed from American d ... More >>

Harris County Jail: No More Daily Visiting Hours

Visiting allowed only four days a week​Sheriff Adrian Garcia is announcing today that he's eliminating daily visiting hours to the Harris County Jail. Visits will be allowed only four days per week instead of the current seven. Doing so will allow him "to redeploy jail staff and save $1.3 mil ... More >>

Stealing Metal From Cemeteries: Pretty Damn Low

Tawny Maryssa Watson, one of the seven suspects​If you're looking for nominees for the Asshole of the Year award, a good place to start is the class of criminals who mess with graveyards. Remember those kids a couple years back who dug up a grave and smoked pot out of a human skull? Winner! T ... More >>

Henry Fairlie: Harris County Jail Officer Charged With Smuggling Drugs & Contraband

Photo courtesy HCSOHenry Fairlie: Trying to keep the customers satisfied​The concierge service at the Harris County Jail just got a little more inadequate: a detention officer has been arrested and charged with trying to deliver drugs and contraband into the facility.Note to incarcerated customers ... More >>

Geroge Wesley Ellington: Sheriff's Deputy Indicted For Moonlighting As Security For Ecstasy Dealer

Rave on, with the help of the Harris County Sheriff's Office​Harris County Sheriff's deputies moonlight all the time, providing security for local businesses.Including ecstasy dealers, apparently.A federal grand jury indicted a sheriff's deputy for selling criminal information to a ecstasy dealer ... More >>

Sheriff Adrian Garcia Helps Feds Trumpet Stats On Illegal-Alien Removals

Photo by Austin MillerSheriff Adrian Garcia, hyping the Obama administration​The Immigration & Customs Enforcement department brought in some help for today's announcement in Washington about how great they're doing removing illegal aliens: Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.Garcia appeared w ... More >>

Mental Cases

Philip Grantham counts on his meds and his MHMRA doctor to stay straight. Too bad Texas is slashing funding.

Sheriff Adrian Garcia Wins Battle Over Claims He Was Blocking Release Of Public Information

Adrian Garcia wins in court​In May we told you about a lawsuit against Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia which claimed he was blocking or dragging out the process or releasing public information.That was notable because Garcia has often spoken about his wish to have the fortress-like mentality o ... More >>

Jerry Eversole Blasts The Sheriff Over How He's Handling Jail Overcrowding

Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole says he'd be indicted if he behaved like Sheriff Adrian Garcia. ​Updated with reaction from the Sheriff's Office.Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole implied at meeting earlier today that the county's sheriff, Adrian Garcia, acted improperly and waste ... More >>

Mugshots: Sheriff Adrian Garcia Doesn't Want You To See Them

This mugshot would be highly secret information in Harris County, says the sheriff​Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office has announced a new policy where they will no longer provide the media -- or you, the public -- with mugshots of arrested people until they have been convicted of a crime ... More >>

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia Hit Where It Hurts

Photo by Chris CurryAdrian Garcia -- Not so open?​John Denholm, a former Harris County sheriff's deputy turned lawyer, knows how to push buttons.And he's done it again, filing a lawsuit that hits right at Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's point of pride -- an open and transparent administratio ... More >>

Harris County Jail Passes Inspection, Gets Certified

If you have to go to jail, it might as well be a certified one​The oft-troubled Harris County Jail has passed a surprise week-long inspection and has been certified by the state, Sheriff Adrian Garcia announced this afternoon."This is just the beginning of our efforts to not only stay in complianc ... More >>

Breaking Down That Backlog Of Complaints Against Sheriff's Deputies

​Yesterday we told you how Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was trumpeting a reduction in the backlog of citizen complaints against deputies.The Sheriff's Office said 255 cases had been closed in 2009, three times the number closed in the previous year.The HCSO didn't have any information on ho ... More >>

Sheriff Touts A Big Reduction In Backlogged Internal-Affairs Investigations

​Sheriff Adrian Garcia's office is announcing that the their man has "shatter[ed]" the backlog of internal-affairs complaints at the department, thus providing "more boots on the ground" to fight evildoers.Soon after taking office last year, Garcia reorganized and combined the two offices that han ... More >>

For One Brief, Shining Moment.....

​The word went forth at 9:30 this morning. Christina Garza, spokesperson for Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, e-mailed reporters to tell them of a new development."Sheriff Announces Employee Bill of Rights," read the e-mail header.Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia has developed an Employee B ... More >>

Hot-Button Immigration Issue Gets Little Discussion Among County Commissioners

Photo by Liana LopezA packed room hears about 287(g)​It only took 15 seconds for the Commissioners Court of Harris County to approve three additional years of participation in 287(g) after hours of public testimony, mostly in opposition, to the program.The two Houston Garcias, who, by the way, wer ... More >>

Don't Like the Conditions in Jail?

Then don't end up there, say readers.

Jail Hell

Inmates emerging from the Harris County Jail tell remarkably similar stories of horrible conditions inside.

The Sheriff Of Crosby, N.D Protects His Citizens From Terror Better Than Adrian Garcia

​Harris County Republican chair Jared Woodfill is steamed, according to a letter we first found on Isiah Carey's Insite.He is totally pissed and outraged because Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia has "opened the doors" of his office to Al-Jazeera. A, umm, media outlet.Maybe not a media outlet wi ... More >>

Two Cousins Nabbed In Mexico For Separate Houston Murders

​Two men wanted for separate Houston murders were caught together in Guadalajara, Mexico yesterday afternoon. The crimes, which occurred about two years apart, were unrelated. The suspected killers are cousins. "Murder runs in this family," said homicide detective Michael Miller of the Houston Po ... More >>

Another Wrongful-Death Lawsuit For The Harris County Jail

​There may be a new sheriff in town, but the jail lawsuits keep coming.Relatives of a 44-year-old woman who died in custody in January 2008 sued the county today, saying jail employees ignored her severe leg pain for three days and taunted her until she died.Margarita Saavedra, a grandmother, was ... More >>

Harris County Jail Actually Passes A Surprise Inspection

​The Harris County Jail, which for years has been the subject of allegations of poor treatment of inmates, overcrowding and subpar facilities, has gotten a clean bill of health.A surprise re-inspection of the facility by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that the jail had fixed all the ... More >>

It's A Nice Taxpayer-Supported Gig For Former Chronicle Reporter Alan Bernstein

As we told you last month, 29-year-veteran Houston Chronicle reporter Alan Bernstein started off his new gig as communications director for Harris  County Sheriff Adrian Garcia by promising openness and transparency, a policy that did not quite include divulging his new salary."That will be a m ... More >>

Two Houston newsmen take different paths

Plus: Our very own Will Hunting

Chronicle's Political Writer Takes A Job With The Sheriff

Alan Bernstein, the longtime political reporter for the Houston Chronicle, is quitting the paper to join the staff of Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.Bernstein ends his 29 years at the Chron Friday and starts with Garcia at the end of the month."I got an unsolicited job offer and I investigated ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

The rodeo got off to a bucking great start, and we had photogs snapping away on both Friday and Saturday. Click the images below for more action. Carnival, BBQ Cookoff and Loverboy Downtown Parade

HPD's Pilot Program To Deal With Mentally Ill Becomes Permanent

In December, we published a story that involved the Houston Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team, and one of its new programs that only a couple other departments in the country were trying.That program, the Crisis Intervention Response Team, pairs street officers with counselors from MHMRA ... More >>

The Web Conducts Yet Another Calm, Reasonable Discussion

The Houston Chronicle reported today that the burgeoning problem of jail overcrowding may be dealt with by releasing low-risk offenders. They are also, as we mentioned today, eventually creating a mental-health court that will aim to treat the ill instead of simply repeatedly sending them to jai ... More >>

Lights in the Heights

Web exclusive!

Election 2008: Winners and Losers

Adrian Garcia's Campaign Manager Wants To Move Up

The Jail's Mental-Health Issues To Get An Airing

On Their Backs

Sugar Land spreads its legs

Moving On

Continual crime, aging apartments and new activism collide as the fight for Fondren Southwest's soul rages onward

Shooting In the New Year

Out with the old, in with the new, and don't forget to duck!