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| Laptop Rule Irks Texas Deputies |
| By Houston Chronicle |
| Published: 05/12/2003 |
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A deputies' union is upset over a new policy that bans Harris County, Texas, Sheriff's Department employees from using personal laptop computers and security tools in jails. A memo dated March 4 refers to any item that could compromise jail security and divert employees' attention from their duty. The policy also affects jail contractors and volunteers. The ban includes fireworks and explosives, Game Boys and other hand-held computer games, glass containers, pocket tools, DVD players, cameras and audio and video recording devices. 'There haven't been fireworks brought in,' Capt. Robert Van Pelt, department spokesman, said Monday. 'But this is an all-inclusive list. We didn't want to leave anything for interpretation.' The Harris County Deputies' Organization questions prohibiting personal laptops and security tools, employed in searching cells and common rooms, when staff shortages force deputies and jailers to work mandatory overtime. 'It's probably one of the worst decisions I have seen them make in several years,' union president Ed Christensen said Monday. 'Everybody knows you can't bring a DVD or Game Boy in a (jail) situation.' Deputies say they save themselves time, and the county money, by using their own laptops to write jail reports, review the department's policy, ethics manual and state and federal laws, and take mandated state law enforcement officer recertification classes online. Reports that take more than two hours to write by hand take less than an hour with a computer, deputies say. Van Pelt said personal laptops are unnecessary for the jail work environment. 'Many functions you can do on a laptop are nonwork-related,' he said. 'We have computers in the jail (that) we provide to deputies to do their jobs.' Van Pelt said the department makes time for employees to take Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education classes. 'That is an absolute lie,' Christensen said. 'We are so short-handed right now, (the department) doesn't have enough manpower to send people to TCLEOSE.' The classes can be taken online. Deputies and jailers don't have access to department-owned laptops, Christensen said, and the only desktop computers they can use are in sergeants' offices. 'The county doesn't provide us with a number of things to do our job properly,' he said. Van Pelt said the department will provide employees with what they need to perform their jobs. Christensen admitted that some deputies may have used their laptops for personal business. 'Yes, there are abuses, and they should be dealt with accordingly,' he said. 'But just as the county will not allow us to go in and mass punish all the prisoners for an infraction by one prisoner, it's ridiculous they will punish all the deputies for one's infraction.' |
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