Media Relations

The HCSO Media Policy

The HCSO’s Media Relations Team strives to be responsive and professional, acting in compliance with the Texas Public Information Act and in the best interest of the department, its employees and the people of Harris County.

After Hours

Routine media inquiries and records requests are handled as expeditiously as possible during normal business hours. You may contact the HCSO Media Relations Office at 346-286-1580 or media@sheriff.hctx.net. Please be as specific as possible about the incident you are inquiring about by including the type of case -- e.g. homicide, traffic accident -- date, approximate time and the address. The on-call PIO will respond as soon as possible.

The on-call PIO will not provide updated information about previous cases or the status of cases not considered breaking news and will not have information regarding non-fatal car accidents, crimes not resulting in death or critical injury, or routine arrests.

The purpose of the PIO being on call is to address immediate news concerns that cannot be postponed until the following business day.

Please note that for homicides, traffic fatalities, and officer-involved shootings there will be an HCSO representative at the scene to talk to the media once he/she has gathered preliminary information.

Booking Photos (Mug Shots)

Booking photo requests must be made in writing Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Please send requests to media@sheriff.hctx.net.

Booking photo requests must include the defendant’s name, date of birth (DOB) and/or SPN, and criminal charge associated with the photo you are requesting.

Booking photos for defendants not arrested by the HCSO, and those no longer in custody and that did not result in a criminal conviction, will not be released.

Inmate Media Interviews

Inmate on camera interviews, if permitted, will be done within the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

All media requests for interviews (recorded or not) must be made in writing to the HCSO's Media Relations Office. Send requests to media@sheriff.hctx.net.

Interview requests should include inmate name, Date of Birth (DOB) and/or SPN. Request for interviews must be accompanied by a signed letter on letterhead stationery from the defendant's attorney of record in the criminal proceedings, reflecting the attorney's approval of the interview request. The letter must state that the judge having jurisdiction over the criminal proceeding has been informed of the interview request.

Any inmate to be interviewed must first grant his/her written consent to the HCSO.

The HCSO will consider all interview requests but reserves the right to deny requests for any reason.

Any media representative who conducts an interview within the boundaries of the institution will be asked to abide by the rules and regulations of the institution and will be subjected to the same security measures as visitors, including but not limited to searches of his/her person or property.

Social Media

You can join the conversation online, too! Follow the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Nextdoor. We continue to be a leader in the law enforcement community for our commitment to communicate with the public—both offline and online.

These accounts were created to provide people who live and work in Harris County, or others with an interest in the Harris County Sheriff's Office, access to information about the Harris County Sheriff's Office and a platform with which to interact with our agency. All of our social media channels are monitored and managed by the Digital Media Office of the Harris County Sheriff's Office.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office manages these accounts as a limited public forum and therefore certain conditions do apply:

A posting on these pages constitutes acceptance of these terms.
In case of emergency, or if you need police assistance, dial 911.
Do not use social media to report a crime
If you post information related to a crime on any of our social media account pages, you may be placing yourself in the position of becoming a witness to a crime and subject yourself to subpoena and in certain situations endangering yourself or others
“Friending” between Harris County Sheriff's Office deputies and a citizen does not indicate endorsement of that person’s actions or comments. • Comments posted by others on the Harris County Sheriff's Office social media page(s) are not to be considered the opinion of the Harris County Sheriff's Office; nor does the Harris County Sheriff's Office endorse any third-party comments on this page
The Harris County Sheriff's Office reserves the right to remove and/or block anyone who posts inappropriate material as determined by the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
If you are looking for more information about the Harris County Sheriff's Office, please visit www.harriscountyso.org.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office welcomes a person’s right to express his/her opinion and encourages posters to keep comments related to content of original posting. The Harris County Sheriff's Office reserves the right to remove any comments that are inappropriate, off-topic or offensive, including comments that:

Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or violate the legal rights of others,
Include racism, hatred, slander, threats, obscenity, violence, vulgarity, • spam or advertise,
Could harm the safety or well-being of one of our employees, including personal attacks, • are off-topic,
Have personal information about another person or that violate a person’s privacy,
Include copyrighted material that belongs to another person,
Contain links to inappropriate websites.

Please call 346-286-1580 if you have any questions regarding our Terms of Use. If you need immediate police assistance, please call 911.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office social media pages are NOT monitored on a 24 hour basis. Please do not use social media as a form for reporting emergencies and/or criminal activity.

For non-emergencies, please call 713-221-6000.