That was a smart move by Harris County Commissioners. I'm glad to see somebody in Houston has figured out that job one for the Sheriff is running an overcrowded jail with 10,000 inmates. Fixing the jail's inmate record systems is a much more pressing concern than buying fancy surveillance equipment or adding machine guns to patrol boats in the harbor.The Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday tossed out almost all of Sheriff Adrian Garcia’s requests for federal stimulus funding, instead allocating his office $6.2 million for electronic inmate medical records.
The court balked at Garcia’s original plan to spend $6.6 million leasing a helicopter and another $550,000 buying equipment, including a covert surveillance van and machine guns for boats patrolling the Houston Ship Channel.
The sheriff’s revised proposal included a scaled-back helicopter program, but called for spending most of the money on computer systems to better manage inmates and jailers. Just $1.5 million would have gone toward electronic medical records under that plan.
All over the state, counties are making similar decisions right now about what to do with federal stimulus money, and my guess is we'll see a lot of it squandered buying guns and gadgets instead of spending it on fundamentals. That would be a waste and a shame.
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15 comments:
Yep I wonder what the chief of the wonderful city of Tenaha,Texas would do with such funds. I would guess he would want to have bank vault installed in the department to keep all the seized cash and jewlery....Just a guess.
You can rest assured that the drug cartels are spending money on guns and gadgets..It is amazing to see the different perspectives from those who do the jobs and those who push policy regarding the jobs...
As though the Harris County Sheriff is spending most of its time tracking down drug cartels - Puleeze!!
Has there ever been an incident in the decades-long history of the Houston Ship Channel where they needed machine guns on patrol boats? If not, the medical records mess is a problem at the jail EVERY DAY.
In Texas' most populous counties, as cities with their own pd-s expand, elected sheriffs are becoming little more than jailers and court bailiffs despite their patrol divisions/narco squads and legions of decency tasked with raiding jiggle joints.
The cops become less accountable as police chiefs are well oiled friends of mayors and councils. At least we can fire opportunists like Garcia at the next election.
Drug cartels? The Harris County Sheriff is spending his time managing a 10,000 inmate jail system that is in bad condition. Puhlease!
Yes, I lay awake nights worrying that the local inmates are getting less than stellar medical treatment. Thank goodness the powers that be saw fit to keep us safe by installing better computer systems so those poor, downtrodden, put upon inmates will have accurate medical records and receive better treatment. PHEW!!!!
Yep. I would have liked his ideas better if he would have suggested the machine guns installed onto the helicopter. That would have made much more sense.
And speaking as someone that has worked with the incarcerated, they want all of their medical needs addressed. It is amazing the medical conditions that people are willing to live with in the free, but lock'em up and they want immediate medical attention. If it is not life threatening....suck it up!
The Harris County Jail makes about $1 million a year from the inmate commissary fund, why can't they put this back into the jail budget?
The Sheriff still has well over $9 million in seized drug funds that they are sitting on. That would buy lots of machine guns and maybe 1 helicopter.
0304...You should worry. At the rate Texas jails and imprisons people, you can be next!
"I lay awake nights worrying that the local inmates are getting less than stellar medical treatment."
It's not about the quality of care, moron, it's the cost to the taxpayers from lawsuits and paying more later because they put off preventive care. But then I guess you like paying high, unnecessary taxes for preventable problems. Idiot.
Actually, now is a good time for a business or govt entity to buy a new helicopter. With the tax deductions the way they are, you can recapture roughly 80 percent of the purchase price over a period of three years.
6:31 - that's an EXCELLENT point about the Sheriff's asset forfeiture funds. Wish I'd made it in the post!
Dirty, the Sheriff wanted to LEASE a helicopter.
Well, I guess that comes as no surprise. After all, if government entities always made good decisions, we wouldn't have anything to talk about, would we?
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