HENDERSON COUNTY, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE -- the video attached was produced in February 2022.
The Chandler City Council approved a proclamation to become the first city to join the Crimes Against Children Task Force this week.
According to the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, the City of Chandler is the first city in Henderson County to join the Crimes Against Children Task Force. In January, Henderson County officials announced the formation of the task force to handle crimes against children after an 8-year-old child died from being shot in the head.
"We are just honored and proud that we now have a city that has jumped on board with us," said Sheriff Botie Hillhouse. "We have more meetings to come and more cities to go see, but I want to say thank you to the City of Chandler for believing in us and taking the time to join our task force."
This motion to have Chandler join the task force was an important milestone for the County, particularly during Child Abuse Awareness Month.
"I felt so honored to be at the Chandler City Council meeting," said District Attorney Jenny Palmer. "Having Chandler Police Chief Kalon Rollins talk about why what we are doing is so important was amazing."
The task force includes the District Attorney's Office; the County Attorney's Office; the Sheriff's Office; the Help Center and Maggie's House Child Advocacy Center; and other stakeholders. The task force will include Sheriff's deputies embedded at Maggie's House with prosecutors assigned solely to working crimes and children cases.
"They are just going to investigate this type of case," DA Palmer said. "They are going to be specially trained."
With how the task force is designed, an initial agency will take the report and forward any crime against a child to the task force for investigation individually. This is a unique effort to combatting crimes against children and is the second task force of its kind in the State of Texas.
"The task force will make sure these cases get prosecuted and the victims get the counseling and the help they need," said Sheriff Hillhouse.