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Tarrant County Sheriff's Office

The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office is a local law enforcement agency serving Tarrant County, Texas. As of 2021, Tarrant County is the third largest county in Texas with a population of 2.1 million. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office is the Primary law enforcement agency in the unincorporated areas of Tarrant County, as well as two contract cities, Haslet and Edgecliff Village. Jurisdiction of the Tarrant County Sheriff's office overlaps with multiple municipal law enforcement agencies in the county's local cities, including Fort Worth Police Department.

The current Sheriff of Tarrant County is Bill E. Waybourn. Sheriff Waybourn was elected in 2016 and has been in office since January of 2017. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office has over 1,400 employees as reported in 2021.

1. Divisions 1.1 Sheriff's Administration • Personnel Department •Media and Public Information 1.2 Communications and Technology •Information Technology •9-1-1 Dispatch •Records Department •Property and Evidence 1.3 Detention Division •Detention Facilities: - Tarrant County Corrections Center: 100 N. Lamar St., Fort Worth, TX, 76019 - Green Bay Unit: 2500 Urban Drive, Fort Worth, TX, 76106 - Lon Evans Correction Center: 600 W. Weatherford St., Fort Worth, TX, 76019 - Belknap Unit: 200 W. Belknap St., Fort Worth, TX, 76019 - Cold Springs Unit: 1815 Cold Springs Road Fort Worth, Texas 76196 • Chaplaincy and Inmate Services 1.4 Patrol Division •North Patrol: 6651 Lake Worth Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76135 •South Patrol: 800 Rendon Crowley Rd E., Fort Worth, TX 76028 •Reserve Unit 1.5 Specialized Units •Courtesy Patrol •Sheriff's Posse •Livestock Estray Enforcement Program (LEEP) •Sheriff's Community Oriented Policing and Education (SCOPE) •Sheriff's Environmental Enforcement Division (SEED) 1.6 Judicial Division •Court Security •Labor Detail 1.7 Criminal Investigations •Crime Scene Investigation •Warrants •Narcotics •Human Trafficking •Internal Affairs •Auto Crimes Task Force •Victims' Assistance 1.8 Professional Development/Training •Training Academy •Background Investigations

2. Chain of Command [Rank Structure image]

3. History Frances Jourdan was elected the first Sheriff of Tarrant County in 1850. Sheriff Jourdan remained Sheriff for two years and employed future Sheriff John B. York, who served two terms from 1852-1856 and 1858-1861. In 1856, the first Tarrant County Jail was constructed in Fort Worth under the leadership of Sheriff York. This initial jail structure was a one-room wooden building located at the corner of Jones and Belknap Streets in what is now Downtown Fort Worth. The cattle drives of 1876 brought a time of economic and population growth to Fort Worth, and after a fire destroyed the initial Tarrant County Courthouse, the Commissioners Court approved a $65,000 bond to construct a new courthouse and jail. A new, larger county jail was built in 1877. Unfortunately, when the new jail was built, Tarrant County had not approved funding for a newly patented lock system, and many inmates escaped quickly after being arrested. Inmates were able to escape by removing the bolts to the cell doors with their fingers, and when the jailer attempted to stop the escapees they could easily overpower him. By 1833, County Officials decided both the security and space were not adequate to house and contain the county's inmates, and in 1884 a new jail was constructed behind the courthouse on Belknap Street. The new jail structure was three stories with interior doors of steel and steel bars on windows. An underground tunnel was constructed to transport inmates to court without exposing them to an unsecured area -- a practice that has been adopted by many modern jails and is still used in Tarrant County's present-day jail. Despite the improvements, escapes continued to occur, and in 1918 a newer jail was built at 200 West Belknap Street. In 1963, a facility at 300 West Belknap Street was approved as the new County Jail. The new jail was 11 stories tall and could house up to 600 inmates on floors 5 through 10. Floors 1 through 4 were used as various Tarrant County Offices and courts, and floor 11 was primarily used as the jail's kitchen. Through the 1980's, Tarrant County again became in need for additional housing for the growing inmate population. By 1986, the rising crime rate and increased backlogging of court cases caused inmate numbers to rise past what the jail was capable of housing. At this time Tarrant County purchased an old elementary school at 1815 Cold Springs Road and modified it into barrack-style housing for minimum-security inmates. After additional buildings were constructed at the site, the Cold Springs facility was able to house an approximately 600 inmates to alleviate the overcrowding at the main facility. However, the addition of the Cold Springs facility was not enough for the continuously growing inmate population in the late 1980's. At this time, Tarrant County purchased a warehouse from Green Bay Packaging located on Northeast Parkway and converted the space into a maximum-security jail to house sentenced state prisoners. Since the purchasing of the Green Bay facility, multiple expansions have been added to give the County a total of 1596 beds. When the final expansion was complete in 2007, the address of the facility changed to 2500 Urban Drive. The Tarrant County Corrections Center at 100 N. Lamar Street was finally completed in 1991 after years of construction. The new jail building was constructed as a maximum security facility with a then-new concept of "direct inmate supervision". Tarrant County now had four facilities and was able to house up to 5,200 inmates. Tarrant County's fifth facility was constructed at 600 Weatherford Street between 2010 and 2012 as a 5 story maximum security facility for violent offenders.

4. Sheriffs


 * M.T. Morgan and Sanders Elliott were both appointed by General J.J. Reynolds’ Special order #25 and thus both served concurrently. Sanders Elliott served until July 20, 1869 and M.T. Morgan served until September 3, 1869.

5. Fallen Officers