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The Harris County Sheriff's Office has a backlog of nearly 30,000 felony and misdemeanor warrants that have not been entered into a database that allows law enforcement agencies in Texas and the U.S. to know whether a person is wanted for a crime.
The Sheriff's Office, which enters warrants into the database for all law enforcement agencies in the county, faces a backlog of 10,088 felony warrants and 19,748 Class A and Class B misdemeanor warrants, according to information provided to the Houston Chronicle by the agency.
This potentially leaves police officers throughout the county, state and nation in the dark about thousands of people wanted for crimes, creating a potential threat to police and the public.
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia attributes the backlog to a lack of staff, funding and a county hiring freeze that not only prevents him from hiring new employees, but also from replacing any who leave.
Sheriff's officials estimate they would need six to 12 additional staff members to clear the warrant backlog.
"It makes it unsafe for my patrol deputy if he's dealing with someone who's got a warrant that hasn't been entered yet. It could potentially put that deputy in harm's way," Garcia said.
"And obviously if we had the opportunity to arrest him and we didn't know that there's a warrant pending for his arrest and he goes off and commits something, he puts the community in harm's way."
No so at other offices
Sheriff's offices with other major counties in Texas said they don't have warrant backlogs. Officials in Travis, Bexar and Dallas counties said they enter all warrants into the state database as soon as they receive them.
Chief Dale Bennett with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office's said his agency had a backlog issue about two years ago but has since remedied the problem by hiring additional staff.
"We tackled that really quickly," he said.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office, which receives approximately 3,000 warrants a month, has three clerks to enter warrants into The Texas Crime Information Center, TCIC, a statewide database operated by the state Department of Public Safety.
The database provides information to law enforcement agencies about missing persons, sex offenders, protective orders and the wanted 24 hours a day year-round.
TCIC is also linked to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, which makes the information available to police agencies throughout the country.
A 20-year issue
While Harris County sheriff's officials say they are running behind about three months on entering felony warrants and six months on misdemeanor warrants, the systemic problem with warrant entry has existed for nearly 20 years and is worse at some times than others.
Garcia, who was elected to office in 2009, said he has not formally told other county police agencies about the warrant backlog, but that "systemically the organizations in the region are aware of the challenge that we have."
HPD spokesman Kese Smith said department officials became aware of the Sheriff's Office warrant backlog in October. He said HPD is addressing the issue on case-by-case basis and is working with the county to serve the most serious warrants requested by their department.
The thousands of wanted criminals not being entered into the state database could potentially affect crime victims seeking justice. Smith said the public safety concerns were not within the duties of the department's crime-victim advocate, Andy Kahan, and HPD officials would not allow him to talk about the issue.
The sheriff's proposed budget this year asked Commissioner's Court to pay for hiring 45 additional clerks, some of whom would have been assigned to perform warrant entry, Garcia said. None of those were approved.
While Garcia acknowledged that he did not specifically inform commissioners about the warrant backlog, he believes it is presumed that when he requests additional staff, it is to keep the county safe.
Emmett: No comment
County Judge Ed Emmett, who presides over Commissioner's Court, did not feel comfortable commenting on the issue at this time, said spokesman Joe Stinebaker.
Because of the lack of staff, the Sheriff's Office operates a priority system for entering warrants. Unless an officer or investigator specifically requests that the warrant be entered immediately, only felony warrants for the most serious crimes - such as murder and rape - are entered.
All warrants for Class A and B misdemeanors - such as burglary of a motor vehicle, theft and some assault cases - are not entered immediately, unless they are family violence charges.
"We do our best to prioritize the most violent cases and our staff does a commendable job in that regard, but anytime there is a lag between when we have a warrant and when we can put it into the system, obviously that's not your best situation to be in," Garcia said.
