Adrian Garcia

For the tennis player, see Adrián García.
Adrian Garcia
28th Harris County, Texas Sheriff
In office
January 2009 – May 2015
Preceded by Tommy Thomas
Succeeded by Ron Hickman
Member of the Houston City Council from the H District
In office
January 2, 2004 – January 2009
Preceded by Gabriel Vasquez
Succeeded by Ed Gonzalez
Personal details
Born Houston, Texas
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Monica Garcia
Residence Houston, Texas
Occupation Harris County Sheriff
Website www.adriangarcia.com

Adrian Garcia (born December 26, 1960) was the Sheriff of Harris County, Texas. Garcia spent 23 years with the Houston Police Department, before becoming a city councilman. Garcia served six years as a Houston City Councilman, eventually becoming Mayor Pro-Tempore under former Mayor Bill White. In 2008 he became Sheriff of Harris County. In 2015 Garcia stepped down from post as Sheriff[1] to run for Mayor of the City of Houston.[2]

Early life

Garcia was born in Houston, Texas to his parents Maria and Ignacio Garcia, as the youngest of six children. His parents immigrated to the US after his father received a guest-worker visa before his birth, after which he petitioned to be re-admitted to the US under a work visa.[3][4] In his youth, Adrian Garcia helped his parents’ automotive shop fixing cars.[5]

Law enforcement career

Garcia became a member of the Houston Police Department in 1980, and remained a member for 23 years. In 1994, he was appointed the first Houston Police Department’s liaison to the Mayor’s Anti-Gang Office. In 1999, he was then promoted to Director of the Anti-Gang Office.[3][6] He has also served as a consultant for the U.S. State Department on the subject of law enforcement and policing programs in Central America.[7]

Houston City Council

After a campaign that included negative ads distributed by the special interest group Citizens for a Better America, in 2004 Garcia was elected the Houston city councilman for District H.[8] Upon election he was named to the Committee on Public Safety.[9] He also later served as the Chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee[3] and Chair of the Minority Women Business Enterprise Committee. He also served as Vice Chair of Fiscal Affairs and the Vice Chair of Drainage and Flooding Committee.[10] Garcia served on the Houston City Council for six years, and from 2007 to 2008 he served as Mayor Pro-Tempore under Houston Mayor Bill White.[3][7]

Over his career, he was involved in issues involving the protection of disability rights.[11] He also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on subjects including affordable housing and border enforcement.[12][13] In 2008 Garcia ran for Sheriff, during which he again suffered from negative campaign ads, this time about possible marijuana use during his childhood. Garcia stated in response that he had already admitted to this on his Houston Police Department application, and the ad ended up boosting Garcia’s campaign coffers.[14]

Sheriff of Harris County

After his election he became the first Latino Sheriff of Harris County[5] with about sixty percent of the vote. [15] In 2009, upon becoming Sheriff of Harris County, the third largest sheriff’s county in the United States,[16] one of Garcia’s main focuses was ending the housing of inmates outside of Harris County, specifically out of state. After returning all out of county and out of state inmates to Harris County, Garcia then reprogrammed the recouped revenues to pay for additional guards and expand the use of technology in the county, including apps to connect citizens to the police.[17]

Additional programs that Garcia implemented included Mentoring Moms, that provided female inmates that were pregnant or had just given birth parenting mentorship. He also partnered with the district attorney’s office on a pilot program to keep first-offence marijuana users out of prison. Garcia used these and other programs to reduce recidivism and prison overcrowding, using house-arrest as an alternative to incarceration. He also lobbied the legislature to reinstate mental health programs in the county, specifically geared towards crime prevention.[16] Additionally, he worked with the FAA to introduce new helicopters to the county to protect Houston’s waterways.[18]

In 2011 a 72-year-old inmate at the Harris County Jail died from complications of a heart attack after suffering physical trauma caused by correctional officers.[19][20] In response to a public outcry over excessive force, Garcia fired two jailers and one deputy for failing to aid the inmate.[19][21] He then won reelection in 2012.[22] In 2013, Garcia instituted “an LGBTI policy to protect against discrimination, aid jailers in appropriately housing and classifying inmates by gender, and keep LGBTI inmates safe,” seen as one of the most effective in the US according to the Houston Press.[23]

In 2014 Garcia launched a criminal investigation into the conditions at Harris County Jail, and invited the Department of Justice to aide in the investigation, after another inmate was alleged to have been locked in a filth-ridden solitary confinement cell.[24][25] As late as April 24, 2015, Garcia claimed he knew "nothing" about Goodwin's condition until after the media got involved[26] after he attacked a prison official.[5] Garcia has stated that he knew nothing about these conditions until after the media got involved. However, one of Garcia's former chief deputies, later claimed that he had previously told Garcia of the abuse to no effect.[26] Local Houston activist Quanell X along with the inmate’s mother called for Garcia's resignation.[27][28]

In response to the incident, Garcia fired six prison officers and disciplined over two dozen others.[5] Later that year, the bipartisan Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus awarded Garcia the Suzanne McDaniel Memorial Award for Public Awareness for his work against human trafficking.[29] In February 2015, Garcia allowed his deputy Sheriff to become the first American deputy Sheriff to be allowed to serve wearing the Sikh articles of faith (a turban and beard) as a part of his uniform.[30] Garcia stated that he would have to step down from his position in May 2015 in order to run for the Mayor of Houston, as per Texas law that requires the Sheriff to resign if running for another office. Upon his resignation, the Houston Chronicle wrote that, “commissioners would be doing the citizens of Harris County a disservice if they choose a successor eager to burnish his or her law-and-order, get-tough-on-crime credentials by undoing the progressive reforms Garcia has implemented in the large and unwieldy department he supervises.”[16]

Electoral campaign for Mayor of Houston

Prior to the campaign Garcia stated he supported the establishment of county-wide pre-K education as a method of future crime-prevention in addition to citing his bringing the Sherrif’s department out of a $60 million deficit that existed before his term.[31] He announced his intentions to run for Mayor, following a few months of public speculation on when he would join the race,[1][32] on May 6, 2015, to replace the prior Mayor who was unable to run due to term limits.[33] In his announcement speech, he claimed to have saved the Sheriff’s department $200 million over his tenure.[2] Following his announcement, a search for his replacement began, with Garcia retaining his position as Sheriff until his replacement could be found and appointed.[34] During a September 2015 debate, Garcia faced questioning by his mayoral opponents regarding the role he played in one of the inmate abuse cases.[35]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Garcia's gamble: Sheriff stepping down to run for mayor". KHOU. 6 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 KPRC. "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia announces he's running for Houston mayor". Click2Houston.
  3. 1 2 3 4 http://asishouston.org/images/downloads/Speakers/0713speakergarcia.pdf
  4. ↑ "Interview with Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia". The Texas Tribune.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Timing, fate put Garcia into race for mayor". Houston Chronicle.
  6. ↑ "Sheriff Adrian Garcia Anti-Gang Leader". Houston's Voice.
  7. 1 2 "Town Talk with Sheriff Adrian Garcia". Harris County Democratic Party.
  8. ↑ "Campos Communications - Campaigns that cheat". camposcommunications.com.
  9. ↑ http://www.houstontx.gov/savvy/archives/Winter04/winter04_white.htm
  10. ↑ "Adrian Garcia Candidate in the 2015 race for Mayor of Houston / I want to work for everyone in Houston". lebanontimesmagazine.com.
  11. ↑ "Law to test 'street smarts' of Houston cabbies". Houston Chronicle.
  12. ↑ "Affordable housing needs in the city of Houston". google.ca.
  13. ↑ "Criminal activity and violence along the southern border". google.ca.
  14. ↑ Paul Knight. "Adrian Garcia's Campaign Manager Wants To Move Up". Houston Press.
  15. ↑ "In Urban Mayors Races, Minorities at the Forefront". The Texas Tribune.
  16. 1 2 3 "The next sheriff". Houston Chronicle.
  17. ↑ "HCSO Overcomes Challenges To End 2011 On A Good Note". Houston Public Media.
  18. ↑ "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia talks policing, financial prudence at Hispanic Chamber’s luncheon". www.yourwoodlandsnews.com.
  19. 1 2 Pinkerton, James (2012-11-07). "3 at jail fired for not aiding inmate". Houston Chronicle.
  20. ↑ "Family seeks justice 9 months after schizophrenic man fatally beaten in jail". KHOU. 15 September 2011.
  21. ↑ "Three appeal firings after inmate death in Houston". ABC13 Houston.
  22. ↑ "Chron Mayoral profile: Adrian Garcia". offthekuff.com.
  23. ↑ Meagan Flynn. "Sheriff Hickman Offers Vague Plans to Expand LGBT Policy". Houston Press.
  24. ↑ "Texas jail allegedly kept mentally ill inmate in fetid cell for weeks". aljazeera.com.
  25. ↑ Oberg, Ted (2014-09-29). "Criminal investigation into inmate found in cell amid bugs, trash, feces". ABC 13.
  26. 1 2 Oberg, Ted (2015-06-26). "HARRIS CO. SHERIFF'S CHIEF DEPUTY: I TOLD GARCIA ABOUT INMATE ABUSE IN OCTOBER 2013". ABC 13.
  27. ↑ "Activist: Discipline needs to include sheriff's resignation". Houston Chronicle.
  28. ↑ Jeffrey L. Boney. "Adrian Garcia: Is He Responsible?". forwardtimesonline.com.
  29. ↑ "POE HONORS SHERIFF ADRIAN GARCIA ON CAPITOL HILL". TexasGOPVote.
  30. ↑ Alison Lesley. "Houston makes history with largest sheriff's office to allow Sikh Officers to wear their turbans and beards on duty - World Religion News". World Religion News.
  31. ↑ KPRC. "Houston Newsmakers March 29: Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia". Click2Houston.
  32. ↑ "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia Answers If He's Running For Mayor Of Houston...Kind Of...". Houston Public Media.
  33. ↑ "Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia announces mayoral intentions". ABC13 Houston.
  34. ↑ "Sources: Adrian Garcia to run for Houston mayor". Houston Chronicle.
  35. ↑ Elliott, Rebecca (2015-08-29). "Garcia leaves forum as mayoral candidates go after each other". Houston Chronicle.

External links

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