Addressing Claims Made by Candidates in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Race
Electing a Sheriff who will protect our freedoms is one of the one of the most important decisions voters can make.
April 21, 2024
On May 28, Montgomery County will decide whether incumbent Sheriff Rand Henderson or challenger, Captain Wesley Doolittle, will be the Sheriff of Montgomery County for the next four years. Doolittle, a former Texas Ranger, is currently serving as a Captain in the Precinct 1 Constable’s office under Constable Philip Cash. Early voting will be held May 20 -24.
Several concerning claims have been made on the campaign trail regarding 911 statistics, crime statistics, and other important issues. We researched some of these claims and present our findings below. In this time of extreme government overreach, it is important for voters to do their due diligence in order to make the right choice for Montgomery County Sheriff.
Was Captain Doolittle fired from commanding the Willis ISD Police Department?
Claims have been made by Willis ISD Police Officers that Captain Doolittle was removed as commander of the Willis ISD Police Department due to complaints from officers. Captain Doolittle has denied these claims while campaigning.
Shortly after Doolittle left the Texas Rangers in September 2022, he joined the Precinct 1 Constables office as a Captain. Captain Doolittle was then put in charge of the nine Willis ISD Officers who were part of a 20-year contract that the Precinct 1 Constables Office had signed with Willis ISD. Captain Doolittle officially began this assignment in October 2022.
After several complaints from officers under Captain Doolittle’s command, the Willis ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously in a Special Meeting on March 31, 2023, to terminate their contract with the Precinct 1 Constable’s office and move that contract to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department. According to testimony in the March 31 Special Meeting, all of the officers under Doolittle’s command were in favor of the move away from Captain Doolittle. Information obtained from Public Information Requests shows that officers listed incidents of internal and external (public) statements made by Captain Doolittle that they claimed were false and detrimental to officers and the department.
Superintendent of Willis ISD, Dr. Tim Harkrider, said in an email to the Willis ISD Board that “we must do better by our officers” and “moving them to the Sheriff’s Office will do that.”
To provide some perspective, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department employs more than 1,000 people, so it is important to have the skillset to manage a very large organization.
Has Sheriff Henderson’s office been abandoning 911 calls?
Captain Doolittle has repeatedly professed concern on the campaign trail with the 911 call performance of the Sheriff’s Department under Sheriff Henderson.
According to Chip VanSteenberg, Executive Director of the Montgomery County Emergency Communication District, the State of Texas goal for answering 911 calls within 15 seconds is 90%. Montgomery County currently has a 93% answer rate within 15 seconds, which exceeds the state goal.
Captain Doolittle has decried Sheriff Henderson’s 911 call performance, claiming that 100% of 911 calls should be answered, but has consistently failed to acknowledge that many 911 calls are accidental or even duplicate calls made by different people who are all reporting on the same, single incident. “Abandoned calls” is a category of calls that 911 operators could not answer due to a dropped call or the caller disconnecting.
Captain Doolittle has not explained how he plans to improve upon the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department’s current 93% performance rate.
Has there been an increase in crime under Sheriff Henderson?
Captain Doolittle also has repeatedly claimed that there has been a substantial increase in crime in Montgomery County, even up to a 50% increase. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, this is because Captain Doolittle is comparing sets of data that were compiled using two different reporting systems.
The way crime data is reported by the Sheriff’s Office recently changed to a more comprehensive system of reporting under the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). With the passage of HB 4879, as of September 1, 2023, participation in the DPS UCR/NIBRS program by law enforcement agencies is mandatory.
Instead of consolidating all offenses committed during a crime under the most serious offense that was committed, which is how this was handled in the past, DPS UCR/NIBRS documents every offense committed as a separate crime up to 10 offenses per incident; therefore, the data being reported by Captain Doolittle is not “apples to apples” data.
Using the new DPS UCR/NIBRS system to compare offenses reported in Montgomery County, there was a 6.5% increase in crime following the COVID lockdown from 2021 to 2022. For the 2022 to 2023 period, there was actually a 1.9% decrease in crime.
Data pulled up in the new system prior to these years is skewed due to the new system of reporting and is like comparing “apples to oranges” as the formula for calculations is different (see explanation above).
This data is public and may be accessed through the Crime in Texas Online Portal. The online portal was developed to provide a platform for the public to access crime data online without the need to make a formal request to the UCR program office, providing greater transparency.
To access the data, visit the Texas DPS Crime in Texas Online Portal and follow the instructions below. If you have problems accessing the link, please copy/paste the url https://txucr.nibrs.com into a new browser window.
Click “Reports” in the left side-bar.
Click “Group A Offense Report” on the right side of the page. This brings up the “Group A Offense Report” page.
Select dates at the top of the page.
In the “Agency” field, type “Montgomery County SO” then click “Generate Report.”
This system allows the user to generate reports for a given year and provides the percent change in crime from the previous year. Data pulled up in the system prior to 2021 is skewed due to the new system of reporting and the report generated for 2021 shows incorrect percent changes in crime as a result. Reports for prior years should be accessed via a Public Information Request for accuracy.
Is there a morale problem in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department?
Captain Doolittle has pointed to the local endorsements he has received, including from some local law enforcement officers, as evidence of a morale problem within the Sheriff’s Department.
See below for a comparison of Sheriff Henderson and Captain Doolittle’s endorsements.
Sheriff Henderson is endorsed locally by:
Precinct 3 Constable Ryan Gable
Precinct 4 Constable Rowdy Hayden
Precinct 5 Constable Chris Jones
Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker
Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon
County Attorney B.D. Griffin
Texas Representative Steve Toth (SD 15)
Tax Assessor-Collector Tammy McRae
County Clerk Brandon Steinmann
The vast majority of the Montgomery County Republican Party County Executive Committee (elected Precinct Chairs)
Conroe Firefighters Association
The Woodlands Firefighters Association
Montgomery County Law Enforcement Association
Montgomery County Tea Party
Texas Patriots PAC
Sheriff Henderson has also received endorsements from: Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton; and Sheriff Richard Mack, President, Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.
We also found that Sheriff Henderson was awarded 2023 Montgomery County Boss of the Year by county employees, which we thought was significant in light of claims made by Captain Doolittle that morale is low in the Sheriff’s Office.
Captain Doolittle is endorsed locally by:
Precinct 1 Constable Phillip Cash
Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley
Several retired Montgomery County law enforcement officers including former County Sheriffs Tommy Gage and Joe Corley
Montgomery County Professional Firefighters Association
Captain Doolittle has also received endorsements from: Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Early Voting begins May 20, Election Day is May 28
The Sheriff is elected by the people and reports to the people, not to the state or federal government. He has the power to defend county residents against unconstitutional mask mandates, gun restrictions, voting laws, immigration policy, and unlawful entry of our homes by the federal government.
Electing a Sheriff who will protect our freedoms is one of the one of the most important decisions voters can make. The County Sheriff is a vitally important office so people should do their due diligence and GO VOTE!