Primary Department: Sheriff
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Ed Gonzalez
Secondary Department: N/A
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Supplemental RCA
Type of Request: Grant - Award
Project ID (if applicable): 5381201
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): Office of the Governor/Criminal Justice Division
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable):
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable):
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): 5%
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Rate is not 0% and is listed above.
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Sheriff’s Office for approval to accept from the Office of the Governor/Criminal Justice Division grant funds in the amount of $149,625, with no required cash match, for the FY26 JAG Child Abuse Unit Overtime Project.
end
Background and Discussion:
The Harris County Sheriff's Office Child Abuse unit investigates cases that involve physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect cases that occur in unincorporated Harris County. Each month, the Child Abuse unit receives approximately 125 cases that require immediate triage, which results in an investigation. Due to a large number of cases in the Child Abuse unit, a majority of these cases go into our backlog, which has resulted in over one thousand cases currently in the backlog. Overtime funding for this project would provide support in reducing the current backlog of cases assigned to the unit.
The grant application for this project was approved in Commissioners Court on February 6, 2025. This grant provides overtime funding for the Sheriff’s Office Child Abuse Unit to investigate backlog cases. The grant period is October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026.
Expected Impact:
This grant provides overtime funding for the Child Abuse Unit to reduce the current backlog of cases involving the physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse of children. In the past three years, the unit has received approximately 125 cases per month. In 2022, the Child Abuse unit received 1,828 cases. At the end of the year, our backlog was 903 cases. At the end of 2023, the unit received 1,579 cases but our backlog grew to 1,217 cases. In 2024, 1,537 cases were received. Our backlog dramatically increased to 1,409 cases.
Alternative Options:
Not accepting this grant award would forfeit the opportunity to support processing the backlog of child abuse cases within Harris County. There were no alternative options identified.
County Strategic Plan Goal: 1. Make Harris County safer and more just.
County Strategic Plan Objective: A: Reduce violent crime across the County.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): A4: Improve safety through targeted pursuit of violent crime suspects.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): Choose an item.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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2/6/25 |
188 |
Approved grant application. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Choose an item.
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Service Name |
FY 2026 Child Abuse Unit Overtime |
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Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
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Recurring Expenses |
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Funding Sources |
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Existing Budget |
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$ |
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$ |
$ |
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$ |
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$ |
$ |
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$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Total Existing Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
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$ |
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Total Additional Budget Request |
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Total Funding Sources |
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$ |
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$ |
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Grants - Proposed Budget (For Grants Items only) |
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Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
No. of Grant Years |
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Local Match Source - Existing Budget: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
1 |
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Local Match Source - Additional Budget Request: Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
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Grant Funds Applied for/Awarded (Total) |
$ |
$149,625 |
$149,625.00 |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
- |
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Additional Positions Request |
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Total Personnel |
- |
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Anticipated Court Date: 10/30/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or ARPA related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Danielle Ordoñez, Grant Analyst, Sheriff’s Office
Attachments (if applicable): Grant Award, Budget Template