State Criminal Justice Profile

Texas

BJA Investments

In Fiscal Year 2014, BJA provided more than $24 million* in state and local funds to Texas.

Justice Assistance Grant Program—State Formula $13,849,044
Justice Assistance Grant Program—59 Local Awards $7,318,544
Other Direct Discretionary Funds $3,135,667

Source: Bureau of Justice Assistance
*This amount does not include funding for national training and technical assistance programs that benefit all states and territories.

PDF IconInvestment Details

Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program—State Formula

Grantee Name GMS Project Period Project Title GMS Award Amount
State of Texas 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 2014 JAG Program $13,849,044

Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program—Local Awards

Grantee Name GMS Project Period Project Title GMS Award Amount
Bexar County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $660,547
City of Abilene 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $40,774
City of Alamo 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Alamo Police Department Technology Enhancement Project $13,794
City of Alice 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Hold the Line $15,007
City of Amarillo 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Amarillo Police Department/Potter County Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Equipment (General) and Technology $102,183
City of Austin 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 City of Austin and Travis County FY 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program $330,356
City of Bastrop 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Replacing and Enhancing Interoperable Communication Equipment $19,145
City of Baytown 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Training and Directed Patrol Overtime $20,966
City of Beaumont 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $121,604
City of Bedford 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Police Equipment Project $14,483
City of Brownsville 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program Local Solicitation $83,120
City of Cleburne 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Tactical Team Readiness Project $13,297
City of College Station 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Equipment Assistance Grant $59,175
City of Conroe 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 FY 2014 JAG Project $18,318
City of Copperas Cove 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program FY 2014 Local Solicitation $10,731
City of Corpus Christi 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program $168,613
City of Dallas 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Grant $951,372
City of Edinburg 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 City of Edinburg Police Department Portable Radios Project $24,028
City of Euless 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 FY 2014 JAG Program $10,042
City of Fort Worth 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $568,848
City of Greenville 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 2014 JAG Equipment Purchases $15,366
City of Haltom City 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Universal Forensic Mobile Extraction Device Project $10,980
City of Humble 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 2014 JAG Equipment Project $10,290
City of Huntsville 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Communication and Investigative Equipment for Huntsville and Walker County $15,145
City of Killeen 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $89,879
City of Laredo 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 City of Laredo and Webb County FY 2014 JAG Project $90,982
City of Longview 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Preventing Crimes Against Youth and Citizens $39,946
City of Lubbock 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 2014 JAG Program $170,985
City of McAllen 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Bomb Squad Upgrade (BSU) Project $19,614
City of Midland 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $31,422
City of Nacogdoches 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Nacogdoches Police Department/ Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office Firearm Training/Safety Equipment Project $15,614
City of Odessa 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $81,934
City of Paris 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 JAG Police Department/Sheriff’s Office Equipment Project 2014 $12,883
City of Pasadena 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 City of Pasadena Police Department Tactical Patrol Squad Project $49,629
City of Pearland 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Pearland Police Department JAG Project $10,428
City of Plano 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $54,457
City of Raymondville 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Forensic Cell Phone Data Recovery Project $11,504
City of Round Rock 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 FY 2014 Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Program: Local $10,262
City of San Angelo 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 FY 2014 JAG Project $22,539
City of San Juan 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 San Juan Police Department Patrol Enhancement $18,704
City of Sherman 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Officer Body Cameras, Officer Safety, and Technology Upgrades $13,159
City of Texarkana 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $48,829
City of Waco 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $75,837
City of Wichita Falls 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $38,539
Comal County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 FY 2014 JAG Program $17,408
Denton County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $43,753
El Paso County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $258,630
Fort Bend County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Fort Bend County Equipment Grant $71,782
Galveston County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $40,443
Hays County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Digital Photographic Technology Enhancement $13,104
Hidalgo County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Hidalgo County Auxiliary Court $46,650
Houston Police Department 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $2,410,815
Hutchinson County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Patrol Vehicle Officer Safety Issue $12,056
Johnson County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Equipment for Mobile Command Post/Crime Scene Van $10,235
Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office Crime Mapping System Software Upgrade $12,828
Montgomery County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 Portable LED Information/Warning Signs Project $56,030
Pharr Police Department 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2015 Mobile Remote Fingerprint ID System $21,435
Smith County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $65,492
Victoria County 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 FY 2014 JAG Program $32,553

Other Direct Discretionary Funds

Grantee Name GMS Project Period Project Title GMS Award Amount
City of Dallas 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2016 Dallas Area Intellectual Property Task Force $400,000
Dallas County 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2016 Dallas County: Establishing a Zero Tolerance Culture for Sexual Assault $56,066
Family Pathfinders of Tarrant County, Inc. 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2017 Reentry Mentoring and Transitional Services $1,000,000
Harris County 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2016 Harris County Misdemeanor Prostitution Court $435,253
MHMR of Tarrant County 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2017 DIRECT (Drug Impact Rehabilitation Enhanced Comprehensive Treatment) to Recovery $298,900
State of Texas 10/01/2013 – 09/30/2017 2014 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment for Prisoners (RSAT) Program $881,054
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2015 Texas FY 2014 John R. Justice Program $47,056
Travis County 10/01/2014 – 09/30/2016 Continuing the Culture of Safety $17,338

Law Enforcement Agencies and Officers

Law Enforcement Agencies: 982

Sworn Officers: 46,059

City     County     Tribal     State*     Other

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Report (2013)

  • More than 84% of the 982 law enforcement agencies in Texas have 50 or fewer sworn officers.
  • Nearly 63% of sworn officers work for agencies with 100 or more officers.
Note: Detail may sum to more than 100% due to rounding.

Officer Fatalities and Assaults

Between 2004 and 2013, 44 officers were feloniously killed (6 in 2013) and 81 officers were accidentally killed in the line of duty. In 2013, 3,477 officers were assaulted (6.97% of all officers assaulted in the United States).

Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports

Crime Trends

According to the FBI Annual Report, nationwide violent crime in 2013 decreased more than 4% from the 2012 estimates. Below are the current crime trends for Texas:

Crime 2012 2013 %
Violent Crime 106,476 107,998 1.4
Murder and Manslaughter 1,144 1,139 -0.4
Forcible Rape* 7,711 17,270 N/A
Robbery 30,382 31,801 4.7
Aggravated Assault 67,239 65,292 -2.9
Property Crime 876,059 861,734 -1.6
Burglary 204,810 190,898 -6.8
Larceny-Theft 606,253 605,091 -0.2
Motor Vehicle Theft 64,996 65,745 1.2
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports
*Agencies within this state submitted rape data according to both the revised UCR definition of rape and the legacy UCR definition of rape.

Arrest Data

In 2013, total arrests (931,814) decreased 7.66% from 2012. Violent-crime arrests decreased 2.03% (29,631), and property-related arrests decreased 0.95% (128,617).
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports

Court Structure

Court of Last Resort:    Supreme Court; Court of Criminal Appeals
Intermediate Appellate:    Court of Appeals
General Jurisdiction:    District Court
Limited Jurisdiction:    Constitutional County Court; County Court at Law; Justice of the Peace Court; Municipal Court
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011)

Corrections

Prisoner Admissions: 76,488
Prisoner Releases: 74,093
Total Prisoners: 168,280

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics (2013)

Major Correctional Facilities: 50 prisons

Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Recidivism Rate*: 22.6%

Source: Texas Legislative Budget Board
*Reflects the percentage reincarcerated in prison within 3 years of release.

Top Offenses: Robbery, assault/terroristic threat, homicide (FY 2014)

Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Regional Informations Sharing Systems® (RISS)

The Regional Organized Crime Information Center (ROCIC), a RISS Center, serves Texas. There are 202 Texas criminal justice agencies that are members of ROCIC.
Source: Regional Information Sharing Systems

Seal of Texas

Highlights

In Texas, Byrne JAG state funding has assisted with numerous innovative initiatives and supports:

  • Compliance with state criminal history reporting requirements by local law enforcement. Texas aims to increase the number of agencies with the capacity to report data using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS); NIBRS will provide enhanced data to support local and statewide planning and resource allocation.

  • Information sharing efforts by the Department of Criminal Justice within and outside the prison system. In particular, Texas is focusing on sharing information about gangs and gang members as they move between communities and correctional institutions to improve data availability and accountability for informing housing and confinement decisions.

  • Replication of the CeaseFire Illinois violence prevention model in San Antonio. The model, which views violence as a public health problem, stops the spread of violence in communities by applying methods associated with disease control—detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating high-risk individuals, and changing social norms. JAG funds are also allocated for training and travel so that CeaseFire Illinois staff can help San Antonio staff accurately replicate the evidence-based model.

Source: National Criminal Justice Association

PDF IconDetails on Texas’s priorities and planning process

State Administering Agency (SAA)

Office of the Governor, Criminal Justice Division Camille Cain, Executive Director
http://gov.texas.gov/cjd

Texas At-A-Glance

Total Population: 26,448,193
Population Under 18: 7,041,986
Population Over 65: 2,966,167

Source: U.S. Census (2013 est.)

State Investigative Agency:
Texas Department of Public Safety Steve McCraw, Director

Local Governments: 5,147
Source: U.S. Census (2012)

Federally Recognized Tribes: 3
Source: Bureau of Indian Affairs

U.S. Attorneys’ Offices: John Malcolm Bales—Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont John R. Parker—Northern District of Texas, Dallas Kenneth Magidson—Southern District of Texas, Houston Richard L. Durbin, Jr.—Western District of Texas, San Antonio Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Homeland Security Agency: Texas Department of Public Safety Steve C. McCraw, Director http://www.txdps.state.tx.us

Drug Courts: 137
Source: National Drug Court Resource Center