{"id":324771,"date":"2026-06-05T23:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/324771\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T23:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:04:08","slug":"lubbock-police-sheriffs-office-forming-joint-crimes-against-children-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/324771\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubbock Police, Sheriff\u2019s Office forming joint Crimes Against Children Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) &#8211; The Lubbock County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Lubbock Police Department are joining forces in an effort to combat crimes against children in our area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The \u201cCrimes Against Children Unit\u201d consists of one Lubbock County Sheriff\u2019s Office investigator, one Lubbock Police Department commander, five Lubbock Police Department detectives and one Lubbock Police Department sergeant. The unit will share technology, resources and authority across Lubbock County\u2019s 901 square miles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cCrimes against children are rampant, and we have to protect those that cannot protect themselves,\u201d said Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The unit will investigate physical and sexual abuse of children, child deaths with unknown causes, and reports of missing, endangered or abducted children. If an investigation determines a child is a victim of an apparent homicide or suspicious death, the unit will notify the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit, which will become the lead investigative unit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019re able to maximize the resources within the whole of Lubbock County. We\u2019re able to work closely with the DA\u2019s office. We\u2019re able to work closely with our partner agencies, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.safeplace4kids.org\/about_us\/children_s_advocacy_center_faq_s.php\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.safeplace4kids.org\/about_us\/children_s_advocacy_center_faq_s.php\">Child Advocacy Center of the South Plains<\/a>, CPS&#8230; everything is funneled through one location,\u201d said Sgt. Robert Braden with the Lubbock Police Department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Judge Parrish said talks of this unit go back more than a year as city and county leaders considered the best way to combat these specific crimes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Judge Parrish said talks of this unit go back more than a year as city and county leaders...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ZHUV5UUM65BJDAKC363HYSG3CU.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"553\" \/>Judge Parrish said talks of this unit go back more than a year as city and county leaders considered the best way to combat these specific crimes.(KCBD Video)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cSo, really, the genesis of this really started, honestly, with our TAG unit. The fact that we showed that it is possible for law enforcement agencies to come together, to work together for a common goal. Seeing this come together, this is an outgrowth of what we have seen here in Lubbock County for the past eight years, with our TAG unit,\u201d Parrish said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The agreement establishing the unit runs through Sept. 30, 2026, and may be renewed for additional one-year terms. Officers assigned to the unit will have investigative authority and arrest powers throughout Lubbock County.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Both the sheriff\u2019s office and the police department will remain responsible for paying their employees\u2019 wages, including overtime. The county will provide the unit with office space and parking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Both agencies say it should not be much of an added expense for the city or county, but every dollar that is spent is worth it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI think it\u2019s beholden to us as&#8230; in law enforcement and in overseeing budgets to make this kind of protection a priority for us. Even one child is too many when it comes down to violence against children,\u201d Parrish said.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) &#8211; The Lubbock County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Lubbock Police Department are joining forces in an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-324771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}