Margo Frasier
{{short description|American lawyer and former sheriff|bot=PearBOT 5}}
Margo Frasier is an American lawyer and former sheriff. She was sheriff of Travis County, Texas (which includes the city of Austin) from 1997 through 2004.
Career
Frasier, a lawyer,Jordan Smith, [https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2010-12-29/frasier-named-new-police-monitor/ Frasier Named New Police Monitor], Austin Chronicle (December 29, 2010). received a J.D. from the Florida State University College of Law.Wells Dunbar, [https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2010-12-06/the-daily-hustle-12-6-10/ The Daily Hustle: 12/6/10: Meet Police Monitor candidates tomorrow], Austin Chronicle (December 6, 2010).
She joined the Travis County Sheriff's Office as a sheriff's deputy,[http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/top-news/sheriff-had-no-policy-to-curb-bias-expert-witness-says-1.360498 Sheriff had no policy to curb bias, expert witness says], Times-News (August 14, 2004). and eventually became the office's first female lieutenant and the first female captain.Andy Sere, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930212121/http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2004/01/29/StateLocal/Sheriff.Margo.Frasier.Leaves.A.Respected.Legacy.For.Herself-591408.shtml Sheriff Margo Frasier leaves a respected legacy for herself], Daily Texas (January 29, 2004). She was subsequently elected to two four-year terms as sheriff of Travis County, serving from 1997 through 2004. The sheriff's office had some 1,200 employees at the time of Fraiser's tenure.Erik Meers, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BmQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1985&lpg=PA1985 Good Cop, Gay Cop], The Advocate, March 3, 1998. Fraiser, a Democrat, was the first woman and the first openly gay person in that post. She was also the first gay or lesbian person elected sheriff in the United States.[https://books.google.com/books?id=m_boGY8AUTIC&pg=PA312&lpg=PA312 Gay and Lesbian Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook] (eds. Raymond A. Smith & Donald P. Haider-Markel: ABC-CLIO, 2002), p. 312.
During her tenure, Fraiser modernized the sheriff's office through greater use of technology and dealt with overcrowding and code violations at the county jail. During her tenure, the sheriff's office put cameras and computers in patrol cars for the first time.[https://web.archive.org/web/20041230222046/http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=2510121 Frasier Looks Back Her Tenure As Sheriff], KXAN (November 1, 2004). After leaving the sheriff's office, Fraiser became a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She later returned to Austin to become a consultant at a firm that advises law enforcement agencies.Philip Jankowski, [https://www.statesman.com/NEWS/20161215/Austin-Police-Monitor-Margo-Frasier-to-retire Austin Police Monitor Margo Frasier to retire], Austin American-Statesman (December 15, 2017). Fraiser also testified as an expert witness in court cases.
In January 2011, Fraiser became police monitor for the City of Austin. She was the fourth person to hold this post. As police monitor, Frasier had oversight over citizen complaints against the Austin Police Department. She retired from the Office of Police Monitor in January 2017, and later that year was appointed by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk to serve as the lead monitor overseeing the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office under the terms of a 2013 settlement of a case between the Orleans sheriff's offices and jail inmates over poor conditions at the Orleans Parish Prison.Matt Sledge, [https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/courts/article_a5584640-cbdf-11e7-91ae-9f3f1f02ad90.html Federal judge replaces lead New Orleans jail monitor in personnel switch during grim period], New Orleans Advocate (November 17, 2017).
Personal life
References
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Category:American women police officers
Category:American lesbian politicians
Category:Law enforcement officials from Texas
Category:LGBTQ people in law enforcement
Category:LGBTQ people from Texas
Category:People from Austin, Texas
Category:Women in Texas politics