Smith County Detention Officers Disciplined Over False Records

TYLER — Information has been brought to the attention of the Smith County Sheriff’s Office management staff that documents required to be kept in the normal course of jail operations were being falsified. An employee who had been employed in the jail for only a few months brought the incident to the attention of supervisors once other detention officers attempted to add his name to the form and he did not participate in the required jail check. As a result of the criminal and administrative investigation, one Detention Sergeant and three Detention Officers have resigned. Also, one Detention Sergeant and two Detention Officers have been placed on administrative leave. Sheriff Smith stated that additional administrative actions are expected over the next two weeks, however he is awaiting recommendations from his Jail Administrator and Chief Deputy.

According to a news release from the sheriff�s department, �These jail check logs are documents of utmost importance which catalog the times in which particular cells within the jail were checked showing that all inmates are accounted for and are not in distress. The regular population cells are required to be checked every forty five minutes per Smith County Sheriff’s Office Policy, and the Suicide watch cells are required to be checked every ten minutes, with some suicide cells requiring constant twenty four hour watch.� These jail logs are also documentation which we are required by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to maintain. Additionally, they are considered government documents, and entering false information into these documents constitutes a third degree felony offense.

Once Sheriff Smith was notified of the potential criminal and policy violations, he contacted District Attorney Matt Bingham to advise him of the situation and then notified the Texas Rangers to conduct an independent criminal investigation into the allegations. Sheriff Smith also reported this situation to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards upon the initial findings.

The Smith County Sheriff’s Office of Professional Responsibility Investigator initiated an internal investigation into this incident as well to parallel the Texas Ranger investigation. At this time twenty employees ranging from Detention Officer to the rank of Lieutenant have been interviewed. This investigation is ongoing at the Central Jail only at this time and is not expected to include the Low Risk Facility.

Sheriff Smith asked the Ranger and Sheriff Smith’s Office of Professional Responsibility Investigator to follow the investigation to wherever it leads them regardless of who are involved. Sheriff Smith has stated from the beginning of his term in office, “The bar is being raised, I do demand integrity, the citizens of Smith County deserve for their law enforcement officers to be ethical and of high integrity and there will be accountability”.

Sheriff Smith met Friday morning with the Texas Ranger conducting the investigation as well as his Office of Professional Responsibility Investigator to discuss their findings over the past two weeks of interviews. Apparently there have been numerous admissions as to employees entering false information into the jail documents. Numerous employees state this has been occurring for at least seven years that they know of.