A year has quickly passed since El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte took office filled with a fresh perspective and ambitious proposals that a year later are facing the cold reality of government funding and budgetary limitations.
The former El Paso County constable said that his biggest surprise has been inheriting a sheriff’s office that he found to be understaffed, overworked and needing a new jail in Downtown El Paso.
Ugarte recently sat down with the El Paso Times to discuss his first year as sheriff at his sparse office at headquarters. The office has plain white walls, a large monitor of security cameras and a TV are mounted on two walls, and the only decorations are the U.S. and Texas flags and a small model of a sheriff’s patrol vehicle on his desk.
“The biggest surprise was the staffing tables,” Ugarte said, adding that the department “in paper, we are not short” staffed, but is working with “the bare minimum,” having to cover daily shifts and special operations with overtime.
El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at a glance
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office is the biggest department in county government and has the largest budget.
The Sheriff’s Office runs the Downtown jail and the Jail Annex, patrol stations, a training academy and other facilities.
Sheriff says he needs 100 more detention officers
Staffing at El Paso County jails meet the Texas Commission on Jail Standards minimum ratio of one jailer per 48 inmates but the staffing levels are inadequate, Ugarte said.
“Both jails, we don’t have a relief factor. Anytime somebody calls in sick, we need to use overtime,” he said, adding that he is seeing staff burn out working overtime to cover positions.
Detention officers “have vacation time, but we don’t have the manpower to actually give you that time off,” Ugarte said.
There is a need for 100 more detention officers, Ugarte said, which would come at a rough estimate cost of $9 million. It could take several years to fill so many positions “but we need to start now. Why? Because our staff is getting burned out. You can only work so much overtime,” he said.
Deaths increase at El Paso County jails in 2025
The Downtown jail — officially named the El Paso County Detention Facility — opened in 1983 and is located across the street from the county and federal courthouses. The Jail Annex opened in 1997 in the Far East Side.
“I think we need a new jail, definitely,” Ugarte said, adding that remodeling work continues at the Downtown facility. “It’s a Band-Aid on top of a Band-Aid on top of a Band-Aid,” he added.
If a new jail were to be built, it should be in Downtown near the courthouses to reduce prisoner transportation time and costs, Ugarte said. There are no estimate on the potential construction cost, but it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
There were 10 inmate deaths— four of natural causes, four suicides, two drug-related accidental — at the county jails last year compared with four (three of natural causes, one drug-related accidental) in 2024, Ugarte said.
The Sheriff’s Office is looking into the possibility of utilizing biometric wrist meters for at-risk inmates to improve monitoring but additional funding would be needed, the sheriff said.
Each jail death is looked into by three separate investigations by the sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit, the Texas Rangers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Jail staffing meet standards, even if there is a need for more detention officers, Ugarte said. “To try to say the results of these deaths is because we are shorthanded, that would be inaccurate.”
Crime, DWI enforcement
In El Paso County, outside city limits, crime overall decreased 14% last year compared to 2024, Ugarte said. There were eight homicides in the county in 2025, matching the same total for 2024, he added.
Ugarte said that he encourages deputies to be out in the field more, believing that an increased patrol presence is a deterrence to criminal activity.
The Sheriff’s Office has intensified its focus on fighting drunken driving, illegal dumping and animal cruelty because that is what voters most-often requested during the election campaign, Ugarte said.
The biggest challenge has been staffing, “pulling from one side to staff another,” Ugarte said, explaining that the county’s new multi-agency DWI Task Force is formed by deputies working overtime.
Ugarte would like to have a full-time unit dedicated to address hot spots and crime trends. But the challenge again is funding and staffing.
Ugarte changes El Paso County Sheriff’s Office uniforms, patch
The most visible difference to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in Ugarte’s first year are changes he ordered to the department’s uniforms, badges and patch.
The old sheriff’s patch was designed by the late, longtime Sheriff Leo Samaniego and adopted in 1986 depicting three cultures of the Southwest representing a Native American, a Spanish conquistador and a cowboy, along with the Texas flag.
“Like any other sheriff, when you come into office you get to design your patch. When Sheriff Samaniego came in, he picked his uniform, he designed his patch,” said Ugarte, whose new patch features the El Paso County courthouse.
“The reason I picked this patch: this was the same patch I used when I was a constable,” Ugarte said, explaining that the courthouse is a local landmark. ” … We are a county entity and the courthouse represents justice. That’s what we do.”
The uniform of a black shirt with gray pants adopted by Sheriff Richard Wiles in 2022 is being phase out for an all dark navy blue uniform. Ugarte said he decided on blue because that’s a color used by law enforcement nationwide and uniforms of that color are easier to obtain.
Detention officers, who had circular badges and khaki-colored uniforms, will also wear the blue uniform and have seven-pointed star badges like deputies. Deputies’ badges will state “law enforcement bureau” and jailers’ badges will state “detention bureau.”
There is no added cost to the changes because they will be phased-in as individual uniforms are replaced because of wear and tear, Ugarte said.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte faces challenging 2nd year
Reporting by Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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