HOUSTON -- You wouldn’t think you’d have to police the police.

Maybe that’s why local citizens were dumbfounded when they learned that a prominent local law enforcement agency was ripping them off.

“I was shocked and I was in disbelief,” said Yolanda Holden, president of the Prestonwood Park Homeowners Association.

Like many areas in Harris County, Holden and her neighbors decided they wanted extra security in their neighborhood.

So they turned to one of the largest Constable’s office in the country to provide it. For around $55,000 dollars a year, a new deputy would be hired to patrol their area.

But the 11 News Defenders have discovered that extra protection may be a mirage. The reason? Sources and documents point to an alleged scam, where neighborhoods pay their fees, but don’t get the manpower.

Even worse, documents we’ve uncovered show a deputy supervisor directing his officer to fill out his work records to give the appearance of more neighborhood patrol time.

And according to Holden, that gives these neighborhoods a dangerous sense of false security.

“We had homes broken into,” she said. “And I always wondered what made them that comfortable to take that many items.”

And it gets worse:  We found sometimes deputies do patrol these neighborhoods, but at the cost of the tax-paying public.

Why? Because they were pulled from where they were supposed to be — watching over public streets and parks.

So which constable and precinct is it? And what do they have to say?

It’s an 11 News Defenders Investigation that’s already causing change and a call by a county commissioner for an investigation.