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MESSAGE FROM SHERIFF HERNANDEZ

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SHANDONG PROVINCE DELEGATION

On December 7th, the Sheriff’s Office was excited to host the Shandong Province (China) Police delegation as part of the University of Texas at Austin’s Customs Programs. Approximately 21 police executives from their Police Bureau participated in the discussion to gain knowl-edge about our agency’s best practices and our part-nerships with surrounding law enforcement agencies. It was so great to share our brotherhood with officers from another country - to share commonalties and learn from each other.

RESERVE DEPUTIES GET INTO THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

BROWN SANTA DONATIONS

December was a busy month for our Reserve Unit! They had a lot of fun at the Austin Jingle Bell 5K which benefited Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and also spent time with families at the Coats for Kids distribution at Del Valle Elementary School. If you’re interested in becoming a Volunteer Reserve Deputy, you can learn more HERE.

TREE OF ANGELS

Every year, People Against Violent Crime hosts an event called “Tree of Angels.” It’s an opportunity for families who have lost loved ones to violent crime to gather together in remembrance. Each person who is no longer here is memorialized by an angel ornament that is cere-moniously placed on a Christmas tree as part of a moving service. This was the 27th year the ceremony has been held and, as in years past, the room was filled with victim services advocates, the Austin Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office and attorneys who care and want to make sure that families know their loved ones are not forgotten.

TCSO KITCHEN UNIT

DWI PRESS CONFERENCE EXPLORERS POST HOLIDAY PARTY

PLAN WHILE YOU CAN

SAFETY TIP

The Sheriff’s Office and the Austin Police Depart-ment joined forces with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Austin Capital Metro and Uber at a press confer-ence to remind drivers that there are many options avail-able for a safe ride home. We know that by partnering with other organizations, we can make a stronger impact on the safety of Travis County.

Travis County Brown Santa has been very fortunate this month to receive donations from local businesses and fel-low agencies; Austin Community College, 100 Club of Cen-tral Texas, Hensel Phelps, Projekt202, Austin Veterinary Diagnostic Hospital, Travis County Tax Office, Jonestown Police Department, Hops for Hope and many more. With all the great support from our community, Brown Santa was able to serve approximately 1,200 families this 2017 holiday season. Brown Santa accepts donations year-round; find out more HERE.

Our Explorers Post 1099 celebrated the holidays at their annual Christmas party. The youth and our Law Enforcement Post Advisors had a blast playing Minute-To-Win-It games and participating in a White Elephant Gift Exchange. To learn more about the Sheriff’s Office Explorers Post, please email TCSOCommunityOutreach@traviscounty.gov.

DWI INITIATIVE

During the holiday season, DWIs increase in number. It pains us to see so many people hurt or killed in Travis County when the problem is 100% preventable. Each holiday season we increase our presence on roadways in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the street and protect the lives of everyone. This year, we launched a video series that features first-hand stories from the TCSO men and women who have passionately served as part of our DWI Unit. Lieutenant Belinda Mangum’s story is featured in the link above and you can watch Sr. Deputy Ribsam’s story here. There will be more to come throughout 2018.

TCSO DONATES TO NAMI

This year, the participants of the TCSO Winter Beard campaign grew their beards making a powerful impact with our partners at the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Austin (NAMI). We presented $7,000 of the proceeds from the campaign to NAMI Executive Director Karen Ranus. Thank you for the contributions made by each of you and we hope you’re giving spirit will continue far into next year!

Preparing meals for the Travis County Sheriff’s inmate population is a challenging task that takes a special breed of officers and supervisors. This unique group of 22 ded-icated men and women prepare more than 7,500 meals daily. Additionally, many specialty diets are prepared and distributed to inmates who require modifications to their meals for religious and/or medical reasons. Keeping up with the ever-changing location of inmates can be quite the task, but to these Corrections professionals it’s all in a day’s work.

As I write this message, I can hardly believe I’m approaching the end of my first year as your Sheriff. 2017 held unexpected surprises and, of course, some tough challenges. We came together as a team this year, turning challenges into opportunities and growing stron-ger through the process. We have a new Community Outreach Unit and a Recruiting Team. Their efforts have connected with communities throughout Travis County and beyond, resulting in new friendships, partnerships and trust. The new recruits added to our ranks have eased the burden on our Corrections Officers. The high points from 2017 are too numerous to count, but include promotions, new employees, parades, town hall meetings, public safety events, a sweetheart pageant, hospital visits, school programs, coffee with the communi-ty and so much more. We made great strides in the area of mental health. Through our partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Ilness of Austin, we are now offering education and hope to the families of those in our custody suffering from mental illness. Our Peer-to-Peer Program for our employees is back. We’re also working with the Children’s Mental Health Crisis Task Force, Integral Care and other agencies focused on the provision of resources and pro-

grams. We know that engaging the families of people suffering with mental illness by providing answers and options for assis-tance, we will see a decrease in the number of inmates incarcer-ated due solely to mental illness. This month, we also moved into the next phase of our Dog/Cat Program at the jail. We now have four kittens in residence that are being cared for, socialized and trained (yes, trained!) by inmates. The kittens will be ready for adoption in February and the care they’ve received will make them better candidates for forever homes. It’s a program that benefits the inmates, fostering good behavior, boosting morale and teaching new skills. It’s a benefit to the community by reducing the number of animals housed by the Austin Animal Center. So far, the results have been positive and I look forward to telling you more as the program grows. It has been a pleasure working with all of you in 2017 and I look forward to continuing that relationship. Togeth-er we will make 2018 even better. May I be the first to wish you a Happy New Year!

Be The Difference!JANUARY IS NATIONAL MENTORING MONTH

Be on the lookout in January to learn about TCSO’s Commitment to Community.