Crime stats at center of race
Ex-deputy vies against sheriff in Fort Bend GOP primary
The sheriff in fast-growing Fort Bend County is being challenged by a former agency employee in the coming Republican primary for the post.
The ex-employee, Frank Cempa Sr., left the sheriff ’s office in frustration after Troy Nehls became sheriff in 2013.
Cempa says he’s not alone in his disillusionment with Nehls’ leadership, while the sheriff asserts that he’s delivered all he promised when he first ran for the job, including much-needed reform.
Voters in the March 1 GOP primary will choose between them, with the winner facing Democratic candidate Michael Ellison, who faces no primary opponent, in November in the Republican-leaning county.
As urban portions of Fort Bend continue to develop, a majority of the county remains primarily under the watch of the sheriff ’s office, which works in concert with four constables and other local agencies. The office accounted for 87 percent of the county’s public safety costs this year. Its enforcement and detention budgets totaled $66 million; the sheriff ’s salary was $127,231.
Nehls’ tenure, as he sees it, has been defined so far by a drop in crime and improved crime-solving rates, better overtime management and stronger relationships with other
law-enforcement agencies.
The sheriff also has instituted reforms in the jail, adding new basic education courses and vocational training programs and updating technology systems. While there have been two recent inmate suicide deaths, Nehls has said the state needs to step up in providing more funding for the treatment of mental health issues.
Cempa and Nehls differ on a number of issues. Cempa has criticized employee turnover rate during Nehl’s term and the description of how crime has been handled.
Questions free speech
In Nehls’ first three years, 268 employees left the department, more than half of whom were detention staffers, Cempa said. He attributed their departure to a lack of freedom of speech in the agency. (Nehls said he was not troubled by the turnover rate and noted that half of the people who work in detention are civilians making a low wage. He said his office has more than 750 positions.)
As for crime, Cempa said Nehls seemingly focused only on burglaries, the results for which Cempa called “not overwhelming.” Nehls also failed to convey the full picture of crime in the county, Cempa says, which he found has seen increases in some types of crime in certain years. (Nehls says they are solving more crimes than ever before and that the number of incidents has decreased overall in most cat- egories, including burglary, auto theft and aggravated assault.)
There are a number of smaller points of disagreement: Cempa believes the policy restricting when deputies can chase a vehicle whose driver committed a traffic violation but won’t pull over needs to be reconsidered, while Nehls says the rules were tightened with the safety of dep- uties in mind.
Cempa voted against last year’s ballot measure that included $4.3 million in funding for a new sheriff ’s substation in the Katy area, arguing there wasn’t enough staff yet to meet the need, while Nehls says they’ve outgrown their space. Cempa doesn’t think the jail should house federal inmates, as at a “bed and breakfast”; Nehls prides himself on the more than $5.6 million in revenue that the program has generated and empty space it has filled.
Campaign donations
Nehls, 47, hails from Wisconsin and has spent 23 years in law enforcement, including eight as a Fort Bend constable. Nehls easily defeated three Republican contenders for sheriff in the 2012 primary before winning 55 percent of the vote to defeat Ellison, the same candidate running this year.
Cempa, 66, was raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and spent 41 years in law enforcement, beginning with the New York City Police Department.
He transferred out of the Fort Bend Sheriff ’s Office after nearly 11 years as a deputy in 2013. (As Cempa tells it, he spoke out during roll call, and Nehls reassigned him to work in the jail instead of on patrol. Nehls cited the same incident and says Cempa protested against taking a new driving program before using a new vehicle.) Cempa retired last February from the constable’s office for Precinct 3.
Cempa raised $5,767 since last March, when he launched his campaign, according to campaign finance reports that cover the period through Jan. 21. His biggest donors included car dealership moguls Alan and Renee Helfman, who gave $1,500 (and also donated to Nehls’ campaign); Cempa loaned himself $3,000.
Nehls raised nearly six times as much, or $34,420, in the same period. His contributions include donations from county officials including the district attorney (who has also endorsed him), human resources director, a justice of the peace and a county court of law judge, plus members of his own department.
Nehls other endorsements include the Missouri City Police Officers Association. Cempa has no official endorsements.