How the Sheriff's contract deputies are paid? Specifically, are the deputies receiving two salaries, or "double dipping?
The answer to this question is that the contract officers only receive one salary for their official services. The CCA has contracted with Harris County to pay for 70 percent of the total cost for 1 Sergeant and 10 deputies. Our 70 percent is for the full-time equivalent cost to the County for supplying law enforcement services, including salaries and any additional expenses the County may incur in providing the services. Harris County pays for the remaining 30 percent.
How do I sign up for Sherriff's dept seminars, like RAD, or Neighborhood Watch?
Send an email to the Westcreek Crime Watch email and we will forward your query. Please specify which seminar(s) you are interested in attending. Once we have enough interested parties, a class will be scheduled and you wil be notified as to the time, date and location.
Please note these classes are under development. Tentative start dates are in September 2006.
I receive emails about various crimes of concern. How do I determine if the email is an internet hoax or urban legend, and how do I get relevant information of concern about Copperfield crime issues?
Many residents receive emails that have details about supposed crimes that have occurred outside of the Copperfield area, and the email recommends that the recipient urgently pass the warning to others. Many of these emails have turned out to be Urban Legends. Urban Legends can be detrimental because they can unnecessarily tie up crime prevention resources, create hysteria and panic, and can undermine credibility. As a standard practice, the Westcreek Crime Watch Committee relies upon information from the Sheriff's Department for sound practices to protect us from crime. Since criminals are creative and innovative, it is important for everyone to be alert, observant, and to critically evaluate their specific situation in order to best deal with crime. We recommend the Sheriff's Department pamphlets and participation in the Neighborhood Watch Program as the best means to have access to relevant information.
What is an Urban Legend? According to the article How Urban Legends Work, generally speaking, an urban legend is any modern, fictional story, told as truth, that reaches a wide audience by being passed from person to person. Urban legends are often false, but not always. A few turn out to be largely true, and a lot of them were inspired by an actual event but evolved into something different in their passage from person to person. More often than not, it isn't possible to trace an urban legend back to its original source -- they seem to come from nowhere. According to the US State Department (http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jul/27-595713.html), Urban Legends can often be identified by the following criteria:
Is the story startlingly good, bad, amazing, horrifying, or otherwise seemingly "too good" or "too terrible" to be true? If so, it may be an "urban legend." Urban legends, which often circulate by word of mouth, e-mail, or the Internet, are false claims that are widely believed because they put a common fear, hope, suspicion, or other powerful emotion into story form.
How do I separating fact from fiction? Good resources for investigating urban legends are Snopes.com and About Urban Legends.com.
Please check back later for more answews to your questions.