In a rural county, investigators are short on time, not cases

What I found when we looked closer

Freestone County has 19,435 residents across rural east-central Texas, with Fairfield as its seat and I-45 running through the county. Its communities include Fairfield, Teague, Wortham, Kirvin, and Streetman.

Interstate traffic and a large rural area mean investigators work cases across a wide geography with limited staff.

In their words

Following one report through the building

The first thing we do with a new department is trace where a report goes after the officer hits submit. Here, it passes through 4 hands:

1. 1Deputy
2. 2Sergeant
3. 3Investigations
4. 4Court in Fairfield

Every one of those readers needs the same facts from the first draft. That is what shaped what we built.

What we built for them

What we're watching

These are the signals that will tell us whether it's working here:

• Investigator time to locate key statements
• Turnaround on city-partner requests

Figures on this page come from the department's own published materials. We only publish Code Four results after the department reviews them.