The Sheriff's Race

It was a drearily civilized race for the Republican nomination for Brazoria County Sheriff.

Voters are trekking to the polls now. What we've always wondered is, why do voters "trek"? Are they wearing hiking boots and backpacks? Are they leading pack mules? We do not know.

We asked a Knowledgeable Source yesterday who would get in the runoff. The Source, a native Brazosportian, merely expressed hope that the de facto incumbent, Charles Wagner, would not.

Wagner, chief deputy to the soon-to-be-retired high sheriff for many years, has told the local paper he's always dreamed of being sheriff. It's good to have goals, we believe.

But in the minds of many, the sheriff's department could use a change in management.

Here's an example of why, as explained by our friend.

The county has this fancy new computer system. Anybody can log in and look up all sorts of court records that heretofore required a drive to the county seat in Angleton, a long haul if you live in Pearland, Damon or River's End.

The fancy new computer system, of course, is tied into the sheriff's department, so it can, among other things, convey vital information regarding who's wanted for arrest and who's not wanted for arrest.

Well, there's the rub.

A number of sheriff's employees can't figure it out. They still want certain records faxed over to the jail, located several miles away from the courthouse out in the middle of nowhere. Certain officials in Angleton don't want to fax those records and have, in fact, ordered them NOT to be faxed.

Why in the Sam Hill do we have this new computer system if we're gonna keep having to fax this stuff over to ya'll?

So why doesn't the sheriff's department train the troops in how to use the fancy new computer system?

"We think they just want to keep them dumb, so they don't know what's going on," said The Source.

That rationale sounds a bit hyperbolic.

You know, learning computers can be hard. That's why that bald guy is on TV all the time offering those CDs to people who can't figure out how to turn on their hard drives.

So why should anyone care that, allegedly, some employees at the sheriff's deparment aren't computer savvy?

Because, said the source, there have been instances when criminal "suspects" are sitting in jail long after the charges against them have been dismissed! Moreover, some "suspects" have been arrested when the cases against them have been dropped.

So, there seems to be a failure to communicate here -- namely between the courthouse in Angleton and the sheriff's department/jail that is out in the middle of nowhere.

That's why the failure to communicate via the county's fancy new computer system is important. People who no longer are supposed to be arrested are still under arrest.

What's all this mean?

Hard to say.

As noted earlier, the sheriff's race was pretty tame, at least in the public arena, ie., the local paper.

Beyond a couple candidates (who AREN'T expected to make the runoff) complaining about "cronyism" and a "good ol' boy" system being a problem in the S.O., everyone kept a civil tongue.

Far as we know, none of the candidates complained about citizens being incarcerated and/or arrested without cause.

That's too bad.

Maybe in the runoff, when the voters trek back to the polls.