Two senior members of the Precinct 5 Constable’s office go head to head in November for the chance to take the agency’s top job in the only Harris County constable’s race that does not feature an incumbent. 

Terry Allbritton, a Republican, and Jerome Moore, a Democrat, are vying to replace incumbent Republican Ted Heap, who retires at the end of the year. 

In many respects, Moore and Allbritton have much in common. Both are assistant chiefs with decades of law enforcement experience, and both praised Heap’s leadership.

Where Allbritton wants to maintain operations largely as they are, however, Moore said he would bring new initiatives to the precinct. 

In interviews, the longtime colleagues spoke warmly about each other, and said they expected to maintain a positive working relationship regardless of the election outcome. 

Heap has endorsed his fellow Republican Allbritton. 

Spanning more than 300 square miles in western Harris County, Precinct 5 is one of the county’s eight constable precincts and the second largest by staff and physical size. Its current operating budget of more than $49 million supports nearly 500 deputies and civilian employees who serve a population in excess of one million people. 

Harris County’s constables and their offices have attracted criticism in recent years, drawing questions over redundancy with overlapping law enforcement agencies. The primary source of contention, however, has been Harris County’s unique contract deputy program, in which neighborhoods pay for deputies to work extra patrols in their area. 

The program is popular, with Harris County’s seven participating constable precincts collectively set to earn nearly $80 million in contracts during the next year. Supporters say they appreciate the personalized service and quick response times they get from contract deputies.

A 2018 study by the Kinder Institute of Urban Research at Rice University, however, found contract deputies rarely spend time serving non-contracted communities as expected, and called the program “boutique” policing that favors the rich. 

There are about 177 contract deputies currently employed by Precinct 5, according to the Harris County Office of Management and Budget.

An additional source of controversy is an incident in October 2022 in which 100 uniformed constable deputies turned up at a Harris County Commissioners Court meeting to protest the “defunding” of their precincts – specifically, the county’s decision to prohibit agencies from “rolling over” unused funds into the next year. 

At Commissioners Court, the deputies unfurled a large banner that said “Stop Defunding” and heckled Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo when she ended the meeting. The incident prompted anonymous complaints to the county’s ethics hotline, the Houston Chronicle later reported. 

Both Moore and Allbritton attended Commissioners Court that day. In interviews, the candidates defended their appearance, but condemned the booing of Hidalgo. 

Moore: ‘Justice will be served’ 

Moore has spent most of his 25 years in law enforcement at Precinct 5, where he oversees the Harris County Toll Road Authority as an assistant chief. Moore, 51, told the Landing the precinct already is operating at a high level, but argued a more targeted distribution of resources could improve service across the board.   

Among a raft of proposals, Moore said he would grow the precinct’s number of district units – deputies not bound by neighborhood contracts – to ensure all residents of Precinct 5 receive equal service. In addition, he would start a dedicated Homeless Outreach Team and expand the precinct’s Silver Watch program, in which deputies conduct welfare checks on senior citizens. 

Key to these efforts, Moore said he would push for deputies to receive specialized training to ensure the highest possible standard of policing. 

“I want to go over and beyond what’s required by TCOLE,” Moore said, referring to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the state’s police licensing agency. “I want to make sure we get a conviction and make sure (defendants) don’t go out and reoffend.”  

Moore told the Landing his principles have created rifts with supervisors in the past. In 2021, he transferred to Precinct 2, where he also was a chief, but left after two years following a disagreement with Constable Jerry Garcia over hiring practices. 

“I want to hire the best of the best,” Moore said. “I don’t want to use people that have been fired or let go from other agencies. We both had different visions, and since we had different visions, my position was eliminated… My standards were too high for him, I guess.”

Mike Kritzler, an assistant chief deputy at Precinct 2, confirmed that Moore departed the organization as part of a restructuring, but denied the separation was due to conflict over hiring practices. 

“It was just based on a different vision for the direction of the department,” he said. “I don’t believe there was any ill will behind it.” 

Moore, who now lives in Katy, said his approach to policing was shaped by two “traumatic” encounters with law enforcement as a young man growing up in the Kashmere Gardens area.

On one occasion, he said, Harris County sheriff’s deputies filed misdemeanor charges after he complained about their behavior during an unjust arrest. The charges later were dismissed.

In another incident, he said, police wrongly accused him of carrying drugs.  

Moore said the experiences gave him a strong commitment to law enforcement accountability, an ethos he said he would bring to the role of constable.

“I guarantee you, justice will be served,” Moore said. “If my guys did something wrong, it will be handled. And if it’s severe enough, they will be terminated.” 

Allbritton: ‘A premier constable agency’ 

While Moore talked about implementing a series of new initiatives at Precinct 5, his Republican opponent, Terry Allbritton, said he is running to maintain the good work the precinct already performs under Heap.

“Precinct 5 is a premier constable agency,” Albritton said. “A new constable can change all of that. They can restructure the whole department, go in a different direction with everything. While I’m here, I don’t want to see that happen.” 

Allbritton, 54, grew up in Precinct 5 and has spent most of his career at the agency, which he joined in 1994 following service in the United States Air Force. He lives in Cypress. Now an assistant chief overseeing the precinct’s budget, Allbritton said his years of leadership at Precinct 5, and particularly his experience engaging with Harris County Commissioners Court about precinct finances, have prepared him for the role of constable.

“It’s experience you really need to have before you become the constable, or you’re starting off behind,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate to be placed where I have throughout my career because I got to make those connections across the county.” 

Allbritton said he is satisfied with the current structure of the precinct and its existing divisions and programs. The one change he would make? Like Moore, Allbritton said he would work with Commissioners Court to add more district units to the precinct. 

Those deputies, Allbritton said, would provide a “hotspot-type service” to underserved areas and assist other agencies, which he identified as a key function for constables in Harris County. 

“The way I like to explain it to people is, what do you think would happen if tomorrow 1,100 deputies didn’t come to work?” Allbritton said, referring to the approximate number of contract deputies working in Harris County. “Whether you’re paying for them or not paying for them, it’s going to have an effect, because the Houston Police Department, the Sheriff’s Department, who are already understaffed, would now have to find a way to cover those areas where those 1,100 deputies are no longer patrolling.”

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