In a nutshell
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a statement Jan. 13 that the county has hired Herklotz.
“Shannon brings more than three decades of detention experience to TCSO and we are lucky to have him,” Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in the statement.
The release states that Herklotz will lead the office's detention officers and work to strengthen collaboration with medical partners at John Peter Smith Hospital and mental health providers from MHMR.
Before joining the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Herklotz was the chief deputy at the Detention Bureau at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. Before that, he was the chief of detentions at the Harris County Jail in Houston.
Herklotz also served as deputy director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards in Austin, according to the news release.
The position has not been filled since Charles Eckert retired in 2024 after leading the jail's day-to-day operations since December 2020.
What else?
The move to hire Herklotz comes after Waybourn’s office has come under scrutiny for the number of deaths in the jail since he took over as sheriff in 2017.
According to previous reporting, Waybourn confirmed during a Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court meeting Nov. 13 that nearly 70 people have died in the jail during that timespan. Two of those deaths were ruled as homicides and three were determined to be accidents.
The rest were ruled as suicides, overdoses or death by natural causes.
