| The Sheriff’s View #49 for Dec. 1 to 5, 2008 |
By: Sheriff J.B. King
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Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2008 11:37 am
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Sheriff J.B. King
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Welcome aboard for another column on a nice Ozark day with that white four-letter stuff falling from the sky. It does not look like the snow will amount to anything today but how many times in the past have we all shoveled “flurries” out of the driveway? So we shall wait and see what happens next. I suspect on this issue my former job as a Trooper has colored my judgment. I hate snow and ice.
Speaking of snow, roads and accidents we have another problem in our area. As the winter weeks increase in the severity of the weather we are faced with a critical shortage of Missouri State Troopers to cover Pulaski County. There are only five of them in the rotation right now. There will be six as soon as the doc allows one to return to duty. Having been in this same boat as the local patrol zone commander I can tell you that one trooper covers Pulaski County about as well as the two deputies on duty can cover the county. In other words when the rush of vehicle accidents hits during a snowstorm there will be unhappy people who had to wait for some time for help.
Along that same line the calls for service/case number count this morning stands at 9,908 for the year. What can I say we shall hit 10,000 calls this year. The pace of business has been brisk lately and we have had a lot of action I cannot talk about right now. But the bottom line is that we have been busy.
We shall also be busy this next week. We have jury day at the courthouse this week. I know a lot of people hate the jury summons and do not want to see the jury summons in the mail. I know my wife gave me a hard look when I handed her the official jury summons letter for Tuesday. What can I say one of the old laws still on the books states that the Sheriff shall furnish the envelopes for the Circuit Clerk to mail the jury summons. That’s all I do is give them cases of envelopes. I have no influence in this matter.
I would like to tip the hat so to speak to one of my reserve detectives today. He does not want his name used so a job well done to detective bashful. The good detective made traffic stop that led to the discovery of some narcotic information that led to a search warrant. When we served the search warrant we located a fair size amount of heroin and some other items that will most likely lead to some felony charges. All in all it was a good hit and a very good job. So well done to detective bashful!
As we approach the end of the year our money supply has dried up but the bills continue to arrive so we are struggling with that issue a bit. The calls continue and the expense generated by the calls continues. The only thing missing is the green stuff we need. What else is new?
Our vehicle program continues to do well. So far this year we have only had a few major repairs to make on the fleet. I hope our luck continues for the next year. Since the cars are now a year older with another 20,000-25,0000 miles on them we will need to be thinking about replacement of some vehicles. I know that we run the cars into the ground before we turn loose of them but there is a point where the repair cost does not equal the need to keep the cars. Since Pulaski County does not purchase patrol cars for us we usually keep the cars well past the point of good common sense on repair cost. Unfortunately I do not see that issue changing in any way for next year.
As we close out this year we get ready for the next county budget. I suspect that the 2009 budget will not be a thing of beauty but more likely the stuff that nightmares are made from. I suspect it will not be pretty or pleasant. But no matter what the Sheriff’s Department will continue to do the best job we can with what little we are given.
I believe that I have reached the point where I am struggling to produce news so I think I will close for this week. Please continue to drive careful and please stay legal. We do not want your jail business nor can we afford your jail business so please go away! But if you are determined to visit the jail we shall leave the light on for you.
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