Trees, shrubs, brush trimmings and fencing must be no larger than 4 inches in diameter, no more than 4 feet long, tied in bundles not exceeding 40 pounds. Please limit to no more than 10 tied bundles. Tied bundles are required to allow quick pick up and size limitations are required to avoid damaging the equipment in the compacting process.
At the Sherriff’s Office, we understand how crucial it is for everyone to care about mental health and mental wellbeing. Our mental health can influence how we think, feel, and act. We take great pride in celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month and strive every day to serve our residents with compassion while prioritizing our community’s safety.
With your support, we’ve made significant strides in actively addressing behavioral health and homelessness concerns through dedicated training, collaborative partnerships, and innovative programs. These critical and necessary steps promote the importance of mental health in our community and improve our response to our community’s mental health needs.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 5 adults lives with a mental illness. Since the beginning of this year, deputies responded to 2,508 calls for service and generated 1,800 reports with a behavioral health component. About 70% of those reports involved an emergency detention order.
Our Special Projects Unit has developed several leading mental health and outreach programs supporting our patrol deputies. Our work serves as a reminder of what we can accomplish together and reinforces our promise to do all we can to improve our interactions with residents, including those with a developmental disability, substance abuse issue, or mental health illness.
Our behavioral health programs and collaborations enhance public safety, better triage calls, and reduce visits to hospital emergency rooms. And when it makes sense, divert persons in need of treatment from the criminal justice system toward more appropriate care, resources, and services.
Every year, communities across our state and nation pause to pay tribute to those who gave their lives in duty and service to their community through memorial services, ceremonies, and candlelight vigils. Tied to National Police Week, it’s a time for us as neighbors to collectively honor the courage and legacy of these fallen heroes.
Over the weekend, we joined dozens of law enforcement agencies for the Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial Ceremony in Austin, a few blocks from our state capitol grounds. Gov. Abbott presented medals to the families of those who died in 2019 and 2020 during the tribute, including the family of our fallen brother Deputy Sandeep Singh Dhaliwal. As Deputy Dhaliwal’s name was added to the memorial monument, we stood by his father. He would have turned 44 years old on Monday.
On Thursday evening, we hosted the 2021 Harris County Peace Officers’ Memorial Service at Crime Stoppers of Houston’s headquarters, along with our partners at the Harris County Constable Offices and Harris County Sheriff’s Office Foundation. County Judge Lina Hidalgo delivered a heartfelt keynote address.
These fallen heroes received a special honor during the memorial:
Their names are now engraved on the granite tribute towers at the Harris County Fallen Peace Officers Memorial Garden.
It’s an annual remembrance with Harris County law enforcement leaders, peace officers, public officials, and the family members of the fallen Harris County deputies. The memorial is a solemn reminder of the duty that peace officers carry out and the sacrifices they and their loved ones make.
During the ceremony, members of our Honor Guard and our county’s law enforcement leaders read the names of those who had died, offering yellow roses to the survivors. The ceremony included a memorial roll call, Taps, rider-less horse, 21-gun salute, and flyover.
Our agency has recorded 51 in the line of duty deaths since its formation in 1837. We were truly blessed to have each of them in our Sheriff’s Office family. An additional 19 Harris County peace officers have also given everything in service to our profession.
Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has added a layer of risk to our jobs. It’s taken the lives of five of our colleagues and friends.
Our fallen brothers in blue rose to the occasion and answered the call, day in and day out. It’s the oath they swore and the promise they made to Harris County residents. They served with dignity and distinction until their final days.
As peace officers, we are a part of a big family of public servants. This includes the loved ones behind our badges and our extended family in blue at partner agencies. Every single shift, their family served with them.
Wearing this badge is a crucial undertaking. It’s a symbol of public faith and trust.
Whether it’s patrolling a neighborhood, finding a lost child, investigating a fatal crash, ensuring the safety of those in our jail facilities, or any of our other countless duties, protecting communities is what we do.
What unites us is so much more than a uniform, a badge, or a patch; It’s an unwavering commitment to make our neighborhoods safer, better places to live.
Our fallen deputies did just that.
This is also an opportunity to acknowledge and thank those currently protecting our community. They must now carry on this important work. We value their service and continued dedication to public safety.
We encourage you to visit our memorial page to learn more about our fallen heroes. Their love for the job inspires so many of us to press on. We miss them dearly.
Our entire Sheriff’s Office family is saddened by the heartbreaking loss of our brother, Deputy Alexander Gwosdz. We came together on Wednesday with his close circle of loved ones to pay tribute to a beloved son, brother, and remarkable public servant.
Deputy Gwosdz was looking forward to dedicating his life to protecting and serving our communities. He knew early on he wanted to earn the badge and wear this uniform. He came from a family of public servants. His father, Deputy Chris Gwosdz, who was an auto theft investigator, retired from the Sheriff’s Office last year after 34 years of service. His sister, Catherine, serves as a jailer with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Gwosdz joined our agency in 2012 as a detention officer in the Harris County Jail. Two years later, he took a leap in fulfilling his dreams by graduating from our training academy. He served as a patrol deputy in northwest Harris County, patrolling the very neighborhoods where he grew up and lived.
He also was a member of our High-Water Rescue Team. These critical team members respond to rescue calls during flooding events and have completed rigorous swift water training. They monitor and prepare for the worst-case scenario and encourage our residents to do the same.
In 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, Deputy Gwosdz was in our communities on a high-water rescue vehicle. For those of us who lived through it, we’ll never forget Hurricane Harvey’s destruction and devastation. He was there for his neighbors and teammates through it all.
Deputy Gwosdz’s profound impact on those who knew him was evident in the many stories and memories shared over the past week. He was remembered for his endless love for his job and immense pride in helping others.
His Patrol District 5 teammates described their relationship as a close-knit family and brotherhood. They always looked out for each other.
Deputy Aguilar and Deputy Ticas, who were his training academy classmates, recalled a time when they responded to a call for service involving an armed suspect inside a residence. Together, the deputies safely made their way into the home and deescalated the situation without any incident. They trusted each other with their lives.
Deputy Gwosdz never hesitated to take appropriate action. Reserve Deputy Wilson, who also graduated from the training academy with him, will never forget his partner helping a shooting victim stay calm. He applied pressure to her gunshot wound until EMS arrived, and Deputy Wilson worked to clear the house.
Deputy Gwosdz was the type of person who continuously challenged himself. In 2019, he and Deputy Wilson completed the Spartan Race, one of the most grueling stretches of obstacle courses an athlete can take on. It’s as much a mental feat as it is a physical one.
Deputy Gwosdz represented the very best among us. He possessed all the values you could want in a peace officer: compassionate, hardworking, honest, and kind. People cared for him well beyond his work here at the Sheriff’s Office.
His passing reminds us of the dangers of this virus and the importance of banding together to do everything we can to fight it. Deputy Gwosdz had his whole life ahead of him. Our law enforcement personnel in our communities and inside the jail are at risk of being exposed every day. They’re on the front lines. This marks the fifth teammate to die after contracting the virus.
We will keep Deputy Gwosdz and his family in our hearts. Your brothers and sisters in blue have the watch from here.