Despite enhanced patrols, Woodlands ranks behind similar cities
With the majority The Woodlands residents paying both the township and Montgomery County for law enforcement services, there is some concern among township directors that The Woodlands is not getting its fair share of noncontracted police protection. Although the township has been proactive in enhancing its law enforcement services through a special contract agreement with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the sheriff's office allocation of deputies is significantly less in The Woodlands than it is in other county districts.
"I think the level of patrolling we have is adequate," township director Gordy Bunch said. "My concern is with the level of service we're being provided. How much is being paid for in the township and county taxes? We're paying the county for protection for law enforcement and repaying [the township] to provide the same service."
The township property tax rate is 31.73 cents per $100 of property valuation, of which 8.34 cents is allocated to law enforcement. That revenue pays for the township to employ about 83 Montgomery County Sheriff's Office deputies to exclusively patrol The Woodlands.
Residents also pay a Montgomery County tax rate of 48.38 cents per $100 of property valuation. Of that amount, 16.64 cents helps fund the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. According to the sheriff's office, six noncontract deputies are assigned to The Woodlands. Meanwhile, the other five districts within the county have, on average, 26 patrol deputies.
For its 2012-13 budget, the township allocated $10.9 million for law enforcement personnel coverage from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the Montgomery County Constable's Office, the Harris County Sheriff's Office and the Harris County Constable's Office. Montgomery County budgeted $15.5 million in county-wide law enforcement salaries for its 2012-13 budget.
County allocation
The Woodlands began its partnership of contracting additional officers with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in 2000, said Marian Leck, township director of law enforcement.
"The [Woodlands Township] board of directors chose to be proactive, making sure we were getting community-oriented policing, and their goal has always been to enhance law enforcement in The Woodlands," Leck said. "We also have the benefit of having county deputies at our disposal through the county tax levy."
Bruce Tough, chairman of the township board of directors, said before the establishment of the township form of governance, and during The Woodlands' population boom about 15 years ago, the township took a proactive approach in creating an enhanced level of law enforcement service.
"The original outcry was that the county needs to patrol The Woodlands with more officers," Tough said. "[Residents believed] they paid more in taxes, so they should have had more [police coverage]. The response from the sheriff was patrol officers were assigned to high crime areas. So, [now] the sheriff's department is responding to the high crime activity levels or areas where the sheriff feels the appropriate allocation of patrol officers are needed."
Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Gage said several factors are taken into consideration when assigning deputies to their respective districts, including population, geographic size and crime levels.
"We feel that what we provide [The Woodlands] is all that we can," he said.
Although District 6, which is The Woodlands district that was created in 2010, sees a significantly fewer number of noncontract personnel in comparison to the other five districts, Leck said with The Woodlands formerly being located in District 2, and with that district's close proximity, patrol officers there often cover The Woodlands, as well.
Tough said when The Woodlands was under the District 2 umbrella, patrol officers were not exclusively dedicated to the community. He said they often traveled to surrounding areas to patrol and assist with calls.
But having its own dedicated district, and its own contract personnel, The Woodlands enjoys uninterrupted service and its patrol officers remain within the district, Tough said.
Bunch said he hopes the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office will fund a larger portion of law enforcement staffing to The Woodlands, thereby reducing the township's financial commitment and lessening the burden on township taxpayers.
"We should figure out the basic level of service the township would be provided [by the county] if the township does not pay for anyone," Bunch said.
Gage said were there not a specially created district for The Woodlands, the community would still be assigned to District 2, and about 30 deputies would be patrolling The Woodlands.
Comparing numbers
According to Local Police Departments, a report published jointly by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of Justice Programs and United State Department of Justice, the average staffing level nationwide of police officers per 1,000 people in a community is 1.9
Although the International Association of Chiefs of Police, as well as Leck, caution against using staffing ratios as a basis for police staffing levels, The Woodlands Township's ratio of .9 officers per 1,000 residents is about .3 to .5 officers less than comparable communities in Texas.
Although The Woodlands has a disproportionately higher number of officers patrolling its streets compared to the rest of the county, its staffing levels do not compare favorably to communities of similar size. In a Community Impact Newspaper analysis of six cities with a similar population as The Woodlands, those cities had on average 69 more law enforcement personnel than The Woodlands.
Tough, however, pointed out that such reports typically include personnel other than patrol deputies, such as jail staff and crime lab workers. The contracted township officers are almost exclusively patrol deputies, he said.
"There is s lot to take into consideration when people make a statement like 'we're not getting our fare share of county employees,'" Gage said.
