Initially pursuing a degree in psychology at the University of Tulsa, Tricia Hanson Sapp ultimately graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Science in criminology and corrections in 1983. She went on to be certified as a probation officer, a chemical dependency counselor, a criminal justice addiction professional, a DWI expert, and in alcohol and drug abuse prevention and suicide intervention. With considerable expertise in substance abuse and high-risk offenders, Ms. Sapp is currently pursuing a master’s degree.
Ms. Sapp began her career in 1983 with the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, where she excelled for the next 28 years in a variety of roles. Early on, she served as a backup court officer and in both the transfer-in and regular field service units. She was later active as an intensive supervision probation officer and concluded her tenure as the manager of specialized units, including the DWI unit, the treatment alternatives to incarceration unit, the centralized unit and the court high-risk unit. Alongside this work, Ms. Sapp excelled for almost 35 years as an addiction counselor.
While she is currently retired, Ms. Sapp remains active in the field of criminal justice. She is a dedicated victim advocate and hopes to be involved in criminal justice reform at a legislative level. Currently, she is working with a city council member in Fort Worth, Texas, regarding the murder of a local woman by her children. One of her goals for the future is to create a tracking system for domestic violence perpetrators who escalate to murder. Over the course of her career, she has chaired more than 25 professional conferences and is a sought-after national and state speaker on criminal justice and addiction topics. Ms. Sapp also spent time as the president of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals.
Attributing much of her success to her patience and team-oriented nature, Ms. Sapp has been praised for her ethical standards and made a name for herself as the youngest intensive supervision probation officer in Texas at the age of 25. She is incredibly proud of having worked in the same place for the majority of her career as well as having served on the Governor’s Violent Offenders Task Force. For her excellence, she was named Addiction Professional of the Year in 2014 and was previously recognized with a 25 Years of Service Medal from the Tarrant County Community Supervision and Corrections Department.
