Full Notification

(HOUSTON TX) -- Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia today presided over the graduation of 29 academy cadets who will now be deployed to the streets of unincoporated Harris County as patrol deputies in training.

The graduation marks the continuation of a build-up of the patrol force that began in 2012, when budget savings by the sheriff's office cleared the way for funds to be used to add crime-fighting first responders. The action in 2012 marked the end of a two-year county government hiring freeze that had prevented the Sheriff's Office from replacing deputies who retired, resigned or were dismissed.

Today's new deputies bring the total number of patrol personnel to 646.

The force, under Major Steven Marino, is expected to reach 735 by the end of the fiscal year in February 2014.

The numbers do not include the many additonal deputies assigned to traffic control, traffic accident investigation, crime scene investigation and investigations of crimes ranging from burglary to sexual assault to capital murder.

In the unincorporated areas of the county, which are patrolled by the Sheriff's Office and contain more than 1.5 million people, the total number of crimes reported has remained steady for the last few years even as population has grown dramatically.

With more deputy "boots on the ground," the Sheriff's Office will be able to work pro-actively to prevent crime more often rather than merely respond to crimes that have taken place, Sheriff Garcia said, and they will also be able to guard against any future increase in crime resulting from more people moving to the county.

In remarks today to the graduates, Sheriff Garcia mentioned the throng of people moving to the county.

"Each and every one of you will be charged as of this day with their safety, their security and their well-being, with why the rest of the world will look to Harris County as the place to move, to start a business and to raise a family," he said.

The graduates include military veterans, officers who worked in other police agencies and former civilian detention officers at the Harris County Jail.

Go to www.hcsojobs.com for information about the Sheriff's Office's hiring of deputies, detention officers, jail medical personnel, communications officers and other positions.