The Hockley County Commissioners’ Court recently approved multiple agreements between the Hockley County Sheriff’s Office and StarCare Specialty Health regarding inmate services.
Sheriff Ray Scifres said the agenda items, all involving memorandums of understanding with StarCare, are part of a new jail-based programming that authorizes them for services in the area.
Scifres said the responsibilities of the Sheriff’s Office will be feeding information to the provider, and making a connection between that provider and individuals in the jail that are in need of services.
Other services that will be extended with the entrance of a clinician include crisis assessments and suicide screening, he said.
The biggest item for them in the jail will be the Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), which involves consultation with a psychiatrist that can approve proper medications depending on an inmate’s condition, he said.
“In the event that we have an inmate who is assessed and diagnosed, that we connect the proper medication,” Scifres said.
He said the item was related to an inmate formulary that was approved at the September meeting, which outlined which narcotics and prescription drugs they can use in the jail.
The other memorandums on the agenda are more outreach based, Scifres said, in which they can connect individuals inside and outside the services.
“We identify some individual that may be in the jail through the booking process and say, ‘You know what, I think this is a service they may actually need’,” Scifres said.
The ultimate goal of the services with StarCare is to identify problems so that social re-entry issues can be reduced, he said.
“I think being able to expand those services here is a big deal for us,” Scifres said.
The sheriff said the process was something he came into the office with, and he was hoping to get to the level of services they offer now.
“Of course, now, I have a little bit of buyer’s remorse,” Scifres said. “Cause now, we’re setting it all up and I won’t even get to be here to see it.”
Scifres said a last piece before he leaves office would be ballistic shields for the law enforcement side of things.
However, on the jail side of operations, there are still some things to do that might not be completed before he leaves, such as in-car and body cameras for personnel.
Regarding the rest of the StarCare resources for the jail, Parenting Awareness and Drug Risk Education Services (PADRES) was another specific item addressed at the meeting.
Scifres said it would allow the Hockley County Sheriff’s Office to identify individuals that would benefit from the service.
“Whether they’re incarcerated or somebody we come across on a call,” Scifres said. “But basically, our responsibilities here are making referrals and working with StarCare to come up with programming ideas that are effective.”
The agreement is essentially a collaboration, he said, and an office space is already available for them to operate full time in the building.
“So as we come across these individuals, we pass the names to StarCare, they agree to provide visits, parenting services, drug assessments, in exchange for our information, essentially,” Scifres said.
He said the following two items on the agenda, Substance Use Disorder Treatments for Adults and Youth, are essentially the same concept.
Outreach, Screening, Assessment, and Referral (OSAR) was the last memorandum with StarCare that was addressed during the meeting.
The sheriff said it outlines service availability, such as when assessments would be done.
“It prescribes that if we identify these folks, we notify them in writing in some way,” Scifres said, “either by email or fax.”
All of the memorandums of understanding between the Sheriff’s Office and StarCare were approved by the Commissioners’ Court during the September meeting.
Three other agreements with various regional organizations followed on the agenda.
A local administrative agreement was approved with the Texas Anti-Gang Center, Lubbock, concerning the sharing of jail booking information and analysis of jail data.
“It’s a service that we believe is critical to the information sharing around the region,” Scifres said.
Another speaker told the court that the system in the agenda item, LEOTech VERUS System, will lay beside the existing system in Hockley County. Users would be able to search the system by keyword, similar to Google search, and jail calls with the keyword will be pulled up and bookmarked.
Scifres said if they get something that pertains to a Lubbock investigation or narcotics case, the search feature can help them identify those offenders.
A mutual cooperation agreement with the South Plains Auto Theft Task Force followed and was approved as well. The agenda item addressed funding from the task force.
Doug Clements said the task force is multi-jurisdictional, collaborating with agencies across the South Plains.
There’s always been an agreement with Hockley County through the District Attorney’s office, he said, but the item is a bit different.
“We were able to secure some funding this year through the motor vehicle theft prevention authority under the senate bill, that’s gonna allow us to push a lot of resources out into the coverage area,” Clements said.
They’re proposing to replace four license plate readers in Hockley County, he said. It will prevent things like drug quarters and stolen property moving between property.
Clements said there’s a matching fund available for the process.
An interlocal agreement with Smyer Independent School District was the last item for the Sheriff’s Office approved by the court.
It would allow the district to call the Sheriff’s Office in the event of an issue, be a part of school safety teams and take part in training with faculty and staff, the sheriff said.
“We’ve always responded, whether there’s been an agreement or not,” Scifres said, “however, we wanted to put one on paper to kinda say ‘Here’s what your responsibilities are’.”