Hendricks gives status update

Bosque County Sheriff Trace Hendricks updated the Bosque Rotary Club on the progress he and his administration has made since taking office in January.

“During my campaign, some of the things I promoted was that I wanted to establish school resource officers for the rural schools in the county,” said Hendricks.

Although it’s something he is still working on, he has increased the number of walk-through patrols for the deputies.

One of his other priorities was the jail in Meridian. It’s a 64-bed jail and Hendricks really wanted to utilize the space.

“In years past Bosque County housed inmates out because of the poor condition and the low count of the beds in the old facility,” said Hendricks.

The cost to house out inmates to McLennan County was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. During his campaign, Hendricks kept some stats on the capacity of the new jail, and it was holding on average 25 to 30 inmates at a time – not even half capacity.

“Up to January 1, with minimal amount of housing Bosque County brought in $8,000,” said Hendricks. “That’s a period from July to December 31. At the end of January, we billed out $8,190 because we started increasing our numbers.”

Bosque County now houses inmates from both Hamilton and Coryell County.

Hendricks said in February they billed out $14,490, in March they billed out $26,055 and in April they billed out $35,385.

So what does it cost to make that money?

“By state jail standards, we have to have two jailers on the floor of a 64-bed facility, whether there’s one inmate or 64,” said Hendricks. “64 is the breaking point, which is what dictated the number of beds they built. If you go to 65 beds, you have to have three jailers.”

There has been no increase in cost due to staff. The entire facility is also heated and air conditioned by the same unit, meaning cells are being heated and cooled whether it’s occupied or not.

“So what that breaks down to is the additional use of water and food,” said Hendricks.

The jail recently signed a contract with a new food group and have saved money there, but the water bill has risen.

“We’ve formulated an equation and came up with $7 and some change per day to house an inmate,” said Hendricks.

“Hamilton County pays us $45 per day and when I negotiated with Coryell, I asked for $50 and they gave it to us, so we’re making $40 per day per inmate after the expense,” said Hendricks.

The jail also has a commissary program in place where the jail makes a 25% profit on every item sold. The extra 25% then goes into an inmate welfare fund that provides mattresses, clothes, dishes and all the other things the jail is required to provide the inmates.

“Just two months in, we figured out the money we make off of those additional 20 inmates pays for the necessities for the whole jail, so we’re eliminated what we were paying to start with by bringing in more commissary money,” said Hendricks. “This line over here has disappeared, it’s now off the taxpayers’ back.”

Hendricks’ goal is to make about $30,000 a month on outside housing.

“At the end of the year that’s about $360,000, and our bond payment is about $500,000, so we’re knocking on the door of over half of that,” said Hendricks.

Hendricks said the jail also passed inspection this year. They failed last year due to equipment issues and paperwork errors.

“That could have happened to anyone, but we passed this year all because of the staff there,” said Hendricks.

Hendricks has also moved some people around in a way to make the department more efficient.

“We had one narcotics officer, but I assigned another so now we have two,” said Hendricks.

Hendricks has a background in narcotics, working under cover for four or five years as well as uniformed narcotics work for several years.

“One of the things I saw while working narcotics is if you start working it really hard, other crimes start to fall off,” said Hendricks.

Hendricks said by pressuring drug users, the number of burglaries and domestic violence cases drop off, and it builds an atmosphere where the drug trade cannot thrive.

“We’ve seen a decrease already in our call numbers related to burglaries and violent crimes, and I attribute that to us working narcotics hot and heavy,” said Hendricks.

Additional training has been issued to dispatch. There are 12 volunteer fire departments in the county, and up until last month, each department was toned out a different way. When dispatch would receive a call, they would then have to figure out who to call and how to call them. The county now uses Everbridge, or Reverse 911, to send out messages.

“You sign up through your cell phone, and if anything comes up like weatherrelated or anything that’s pertinent for the public to know, dispatch can type up a message and send it out,” said Hendricks. The messages are

The messages are delivered through text message and voice message to ensure it is received.

“So far it’s been dynamic. We’re in the test phase of it and so far the dispatchers and the fire departments are pleased with it,” said Hendricks.

Hendricks says his team is doing a great job and more positive results are on the horizon.