Lubbock was the first stop across the state for the House County Affairs Committee, where members discussed issues and possible solutions for several important topics issues around the area.

Friday’s agenda included Child Protective Services, rural hospital quality, and mental health issues in local jails. 

Lubbock County Sheriff Kelly Rowe was among three officials who spoke on mentally-ill offenders. He claimed it is one of their biggest problems in facilities.

“That is what our focus is here today to try to identify those and potentially keep them out of the criminal justice system  if treatment is the better option,” Rowe said.

To reduce that number, he spoke on a new screening process that LSO is constructing, which will provide more in-depth background information on each offender.

“This is a secondary alert system that we’ve been looking at,” Rowe said. “That will be attached to a look-up search that occurs every time an individual is booked into the facility. And it will basically have three items of information on it whether they’re a threat to themselves, a threat to officers, or an escape risk. this information will be entered in each jail as the situation may occur.”
 
The Committee said it will start discussing possible actions for a policy that could take form in January 2017.