Through the end of October and into early November, Fisher County Chief Deputy Tanner Garcia racked up more than 40 hours of additional training in Huntsville, completing the Jail Administration Management and Operations program with the Correctional Management Institute of Texas.
Sam Houston State University is known nationwide as the premier school for the study of Criminal Justice. Last month, the university was host to two dozen newly appointed Chief Deputies from across Texas, sending officers through an extensive training program where they spend more than 40 hours learning the critical skills for effective management and operations of their county jail.
“The sheriff is in total control of everything that goes on over here. So, for us, as administration, my job is to assist him with knowing more about the jail than he does,” said Garcia. “It was everything I thought and more. It was very thorough.”
Endorsed by the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Correctional Management Institute of Texas provides professional development and training to correctional leadership across the State of Texas. The 24 elite participants are returning to their counties with an education in their profession that is unparalleled in Texas.
Garcia explained that he will still be performing is law enforcement duties, but with the additional knowledge base, he can better assist both the sheriff and the jail administrator in operations.
The Correctional Management Institute of Texas, in collaboration with the Texas Jail Association and the Texas Association of Counties, provided the program at no cost to Fisher County. The Texas Association of Counties is active in providing training to county officials statewide.
An unexpected takeaway from the intense week of training with so many different officers and departments was how similar the challenges were. “No matter how big the jail or how large the Sheriff's Office was, we all faced the same problems all the way down to the smallest of jails,” said Garcia.