Harris County

5,045,026 people, served by 72 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Harris County follows Texas law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: A magistrate sets bail first, at the hearing that must follow arrest. Magistrates include judges of every level, justices of the peace, and, in some counties, appointed criminal law magistrates. In misdemeanors, a sheriff, officer, or licensed jailer may take bail, and many counties use bond schedules signed by judges.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 17.027, 17.20 to 17.22 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17
Time to see a judge: A person arrested must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. The magistrate gives the warnings, sets bail, and can appoint a lawyer. The hearing may be held by video.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17(a)
Money bail: Texas allows money bail. Since voters approved Proposition 3 in November 2025, a judge must deny bail for murder, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, and several other felonies when the state proves flight risk or danger at a hearing, and must explain in writing any grant of bail on those charges.
Tex. Const. art. I, secs. 11 to 11d Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.15
Courts: District courts try felonies. Each county has a constitutional county court, and larger counties add county courts at law; these hear Class A and B misdemeanors. Justice courts and city municipal courts hear Class C misdemeanors, which carry only a fine.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025)
Judges and magistrates: Voters choose district judges in partisan elections for four-year terms, and the governor fills vacancies until the next election. County judges, county court at law judges, and justices of the peace also win partisan elections for four-year terms. Justices of the peace and most constitutional county judges need not be lawyers; most municipal judges are appointed by the city council.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025), "Selection and terms"

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Prop 3 (2025) changed when bail must be denied, not whether money bail exists. Appointed criminal law magistrates exist only in counties with an enabling section in Gov't Code ch. 54, such as Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis. Counts of public defender offices change often; check TIDC before quoting a number.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice: Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2017.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)

Cities and towns

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Harris County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by agencies in Harris County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
Violent crime	41,096	38,388	38,328	39,139	32,566	774	411
Murder	639	604	498	478	409	11	6.1
Rape	3,103	2,923	3,067	3,341	2,820	62	53
Robbery	9,934	9,138	9,195	8,468	6,580	177	67
Aggravated assault	27,420	25,723	25,568	26,852	22,757	524	285
Property crime	156,220	173,499	172,163	164,329	150,540	3,335	2,123
Burglary	21,913	22,584	21,183	21,029	18,299	429	303
Larceny	110,163	123,953	118,508	116,207	111,791	2,371	1,493
Motor vehicle theft	24,144	26,962	32,472	27,093	20,450	535	327
Arson	855	821	726	978	836	17	9.2

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Harris County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
All offenses outside the crime index	181,116	180,987	185,798	189,776	183,006	3,760	2,904
Simple assault and intimidation	80,512	80,037	82,428	87,064	85,994	1,699	1,172
Vandalism	41,812	41,733	46,682	45,687	40,675	884	534
Fraud	19,798	18,232	18,518	17,279	17,281	372	312
Drug abuse violations	20,552	20,141	17,990	21,943	22,372	421	602
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.	7,862	7,859	6,406	6,254	5,860	140	109
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing	650	620	961	533	1,118	16	17
Forgery and counterfeiting	4,284	6,078	5,926	4,702	3,948	102	64
Embezzlement	579	706	713	557	403	12	8.6
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)	1,643	1,604	1,615	1,578	1,269	31	27
Prostitution and commercialized vice	942	1,103	1,563	979	981	23	10
Gambling	70	54	52	103	121	1.6	1.9
Other Group A offenses	2,412	2,820	2,944	3,097	2,984	58	48
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)	18	16	19	10	22	0.3	0.8
Human trafficking (not in the total)	200	179	151	172	113	3.3	1.8

Offenses agencies in Harris County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Texas's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.

Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Texas: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.