Mission Statement
The Sheriff’s Department must operate within its budget and County Tax base. The growth of department must be controlled with this in mind. Operating a Sheriff’s Department on projected revenue of any sort is counting your chickens before they hatch.
Example: Building Jails to house other area inmates for additional revenue is a recipe for disaster. The depending on money collected by fines and other misc. items to run a department is tantamount to failure. The partnership with private industry to run a department must be met with suspicion and caution.
The housing of other area prisoners is an extreme risk to the local taxpayer as well as the Sheriff’s department employees. State and Federal law mandates the requirements in the housing of inmates. These mandates dictate certain criteria. For example: Calorie intake, access to legal materials, and scores of other rules and regulations.
The Sheriff’s Department serves many functions by serving in everything from Civil Process to Court House Security. We cannot afford to get away from the meat and potatoes of this department and that is the "Capturing Criminals and Locking Them Up".
The County has paid out in recent times millions dollars in overtime to meet the State mandated Officer to Inmate Ratio. This could cause increased fatigue and stress to the Deputies and employees in question. Continued use of this system will only lead to failure and potential liability for the department, employee and the taxpayer.
Our county has at least six State Prison units. These units employ approximately 3,000 men and women Correctional Officers who are trained in detention. One idea we may consider is the part time employment of these Officers who are already trained in the detention of inmates. Who with minimal Jail training could fill in during shortages of staff and at the same time help themselves and families with additional income. This idea would also free up Certified Deputies to patrol and work the street instead of detaining already captured criminals.
The Sheriff’s Department must stay ahead in all aspects of modern police and forensic technology. By not keeping informed and educated in our fast changing times we will drop the ball in the Field of Law Enforcement.
Law Enforcement is collective teamwork at its best and no one person is responsible for its continued success.
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