NOW CAMERON COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT. CAN'T DO ENOUGH

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Funny what an election can do.

When former Cameron County District Clerk Eric Garza announced his intention to challenge Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio, he brought out some ideas like having laptops in sheriff patrol cars, putting the jail in compliance, and instituting personnel screening to weed out undesirable applicants.

Now, with the early voting in full swing, hardly a day goes by that the local daily doesn't have some new item from the department. The jail is now in compliance after it was cited for noncompliance in November. The jail is said to have come into compliance from the deficiencies noted as of February 11, seven days before the start of early voting.

And the daily also noted that it is installing laptops into patrol units just this week. As had been noted before, the department got a black eye after some of its deputies ran afoul of the law and behaved badly.

We told you of the employment of a Army deserter who was not only hired, but was recently promoted in a supervisory role.

Now we learn that the department hired a woman who had been let go from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) after she was charged with taking money to change test results so that at least two individuals could pass their driving test.

A grand jury charged Veronica Vallejo Orive with Tampering With Government Records and two counts of bribery in January 2004. The indictment charged her with taking money from a woman named Griselda Hernandez and Sabino Martinez for "changing from failing to passing on the driver's license written examination."

We told you of the employment of a Army deserter who was not only hired, but was recently promoted in a supervisory role.

Nonetheless, the personnel screening and vetting of potential employees at the department failed to discover this despite the fact that a cursory check of DPS and court files would have revealed the alleged offenses.


As Sheriff Omar Lucio faces two challengers this March 3 Democratic Primary, these type of revelations probably doesn't help his effort to remain in office. Lucio, who was first elected in 1997 and then again in 2006, has served as sheriff for nearly 17 years, following his 35-year stint with the Harlingen Police Department.

He is facing Garza and former San Benito Police Chief Michael Galvan in the current primary and Republican candidate John Chambers in the general election in November..

“The constant demands of a growing county require the expertise, leadership, wisdom and administrative experience to successfully continue guiding this office to meet the needs of the public we serve,” Lucio stated in his reelection announcement.

If an election challenge is prodding the sheriff to make these changes, it might not be a bad idea to hold one every year, would it?