Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office opens a new annex in West Montgomery County

THE WOODLANDS, TX – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office celebrated the grand opening – including a ribbon-cutting ceremony that humorously used crime scene tape as the ribbon – of its new Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office District 4 building in Magnolia.

This state-of-the-art Sheriff’s Office facility includes the new satellite jail in the Magnolia area, where it will more efficiently serve the community and the law enforcement agencies in the area. This new facility is a collaborative effort between the Sheriff’s Office and the Montgomery County Commissioners Court. It was conceived largely due to the long stretches of time it takes to take arrestees – approximately 600 per year – from the scene of an incident to booking to jail; too often a single arrest could take up practically the arresting officer’s entire shift, resulting in fewer officers being able to effectively patrol their routes.

The ceremony took place at the facility located at 19038 Unity Park Drive, Magnolia. In attendance were Sheriff Rand Henderson, Commissioner Charlie Riley, Constable Chris Jones, Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, County Treasurer Melanie Bush, other elected officials, and dozens of law enforcement and civilian personnel. The event was kicked off by a color guard presentation of the flags.

After the ribbon cutting, personnel provided a tour of the 16,760-square-foot facility that was constructed at a final under-budget cost of $11.8 million. The forward-thinking design of the annex represents the next generation of law enforcement-related construction, with cells able to hold 13 people for twelve hours each, monitored interview rooms, power outlets built into conference tables – vital for officers writing reports after coming in from long shifts – private initial-complain rooms, and a unique lighting system that uses refracted sunlight to add to the interior illumination. The annex is designed in what is known as a “precinct module” where comfort and the ability for all departments and tiers of personnel to gather and communicate effectively are emphasized.

County Treasurer Melanie Bush was impressed with the new facility. “I’m always excited to support Sheriff Henderson and Constable Jones. This is such a benefit to them and all of law enforcement in the west county,” she said. “This is indicative of the growth of Montgomery County and the traffic that goes along with that. To have a place here where those under arrest can be brought instead of Conroe is a benefit, and it’s a tribute to the County Judge and Commissioners Court that they saw the need for this.”

Montgomery County Sheriff Rand Henderson minced no words at how pleased he was with the annex and the ceremony. “It’s a beautiful building and a great opportunity for us to be able to showcase it. None of this would be possible if it weren’t for the will and support of Commissioners Court, particularly Judge Keough, Commissioner Walker, and the ‘hometown’ Commissioner here who was instrumental in getting the funding for this project, Commissioner Charlie Riley. Constable Jones’ office will benefit, as will all other law enforcement officers in the western part of the county,” he said. “It’s about a 4-6 hour process – depending on the complexity of the arrest – between the initial arrest, the trip to Conroe, booking, coordinating with the DA’s office on charges, then having to come all the way back. That’s a period of time where our law enforcement personnel of all agencies – not just the sheriff’s office or the constable’s office but the police departments that are out here – are affected. A big change will be that they will be able to book prisoners in this satellite facility. That’s going to be a huge savings on our personnel, manpower issues, on the street, on our show of force, and our ability to proactively patrol the areas. So we’re going to have a lot less down time when it comes to arresting. Also, this building will house detectives, so we will have detectives and patrol with command supervision in the building all under the same umbrella and the same roof, so you can imagine how much better the communication will be fostered under these disparate groups. We’re just so excited about this.”

Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley, whose office is at the far end of the block where the new annex was built, couldn’t have been more proud at the outcome of this project. “I’m not even in law enforcement, but I do know that from the time I went to work for Montgomery County in 2001, all these departments were spread out; our commissioner’s office was in one place, the tax office in another, the constable’s office in yet another; everyone was spread out. And that was one of the main things that I kept talking to the previous commissioner about, that we needed to get everyone on the same property. Back in 2011 we were able to get that started, but it was too small for us all to work together. When I ran for office the first time, I knew we had to get more space up here. With today’s opening, I’m so proud of how we finally got here. This will eliminate the logjam of booking prisoners in Conroe only.”

Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough was effusive in his compliments. “On behalf of the people of the county, congratulations for all your work and efforts,” he said. “The people of the county are elated, I know this. When you look at various counties around the state that are contracting their law enforcement, we have become the example in Montgomery County of what law enforcement staying and growing ensure for the people of this county that they’re going to have a safe place to live, to worship, to play, all the things we do here in this county. This is awesome. What you’ve done here in this area to communicate to the people who are here, you’re there protecting. It causes people to want to move here because they know they’re protected. It also communicates to the other side, the bad guys, don’t bring it to Montgomery County; we’re serious about law enforcement, we’re serious about protecting our people. Count the cost before you bring that nonsense into our county.”