By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
With the General Election now less than a month away, Sheriff Scott Kent thought it was time to take a proactive approach in getting information out to the public about the upcoming criminal justice renewal levy.
Kent invited local media to the Crawford County Justice Center for a tour of the facility and an explanation of the 2.75-mils renewal levy that will appear on the ballot in November. This is the first time the levy has come up for renewal.
When the economic downturn hit in 2009, county budgets were drastically cut. The jail levy was passed to help offset the cost of running the jail.
“That’s what’s kept us from having to do layoffs and drastic cuts here in the Sheriff’s Office, which ultimately would affect services that we provide to the county,” Kent explained.
The criminal justice levy currently generates $1.4 million, though it was originally designed to bring in $1.8 million. Kent said the decline resulted from changes in property values.
The Sheriff’s Office operates on two budgets: a jail budget and an enforcement budget. The levy funds a large portion of the Sheriff’s Office enforcement budget, which covers road patrol-like activities. The Sheriff’s Office currently has a total budget of $2.3 million, of which $1.4 million comes from the levy. The rest of the budget is funded out of the general fund.
The Sheriff’s Office used to receive additional income by housing out-of-county inmates from placed like Shelby and Cuyahoga and Wyandot counties. Jail Commander Kent Rachel said they had brought in $145,000 just two to three years ago but that number has dwindled as communities build their own state-regulated jails.
Kent assured that the money generated by the levy has not been wasted as the Sheriff’s Office has taken a proactive approach to crime in the county.
“One of the biggest things facing Crawford County today is the drug epidemic. But we’re not unique to that problem; it’s a problem across the state, the United States,” Kent said. “So we have to take a proactive approach to it. If we don’t take a proactive approach to it, it’s going to invite that type of person here. The criminals are looking for areas that aren’t patrolled heavily so they can set up shop and bring more poison to the area. So it’s important that we that proactive and make a lot of arrests there; otherwise, we’re going to invite more of the behavior that we’re already dealing with.”
In 2012, the Sheriff’s Office had 29,000 calls for service. That number increased to nearly 32,000 calls in 2013.
They had a 12-percent decrease in burglaries, a 7-percent decrease in traffic crashes, and a 3-percent decrease in suspicious activity calls. Warrant arrests increased in 2013 by 31 percent. Concealed carry weapon permits increased by 239 percent last year.
Last year the Sheriff’s Office directed and assisted in 29 search warrants, which was a 93-percent increase from the year before.
“We are staying proactive,” Kent said. “That’s one of the biggest reasons I don’t want to see this levy fail because I don’t want to lose the momentum we have going for us now.”
The Crawford County Justice Center is a 121-bed facility. The average daily population in 2009 was 118 inmates. That number has fluctuated over the years but has returned to that average this year due to the influx of inmates brought in on warrants.
Currently, two deputies patrol the roads during the day with an additional deputy added to the night shift. Twenty-eight officers worked in the jail while 11 officers work first shift, nine work second shift, and eight work third shift. There is always a minimum staff of five. There are also two nurses on staff and a doctor that visits once a week.
With the help of the Crawford County prosecutor, the Sheriff’s Office has developed a special response team with the Bucyrus and Galion police departments. The team focuses mostly on drug enforcement. The Sheriff’s Office provides additional training to the two city departments above what they receive at the police academy.
Kent said the Sheriff’s Office is able to do its own drug testing in-house as well as collect DNA when booking in inmates. It also recently upgraded 46 cameras from VHS tapes to digital within the cell blocks with help from Municipal Court Judge Sean Leuthold.
In 2009, the Sheriff’s Office received a federal grant to replace its fleet of vehicles. Kent said that fleet is now aging and is costing more to maintain. Though they have been trying to rotate a few vehicles out every year, Kent said that they had 21 vehicles at the beginning of the year with 100,000 miles on them. There are also several vehicles with up to 180,000 miles on them.
It typically costs the department $30,000 to replace a cruiser.
The Sheriff’s Office purchased all new firearms in 2013, though Kent noted that not one of them was paid for by tax payers’ dollars. Rather, the department traded in forfeited guns that had been seized during search warrants and court-ordered into their possession. Every deputy and peace officer certified was outfitted with new guns. The department was also able to purchase 10,000 rounds of training ammunition.
The Sheriff’s Office also applies for a state and federal traffic grant every year which typically generates $28,000 to put more cruisers out on the roads during proms, homecomings, and holidays. However, Kent said grants are now less available and harder to qualify for.
The Sheriff’s Office has also expanded its D.A.R.E. program to Bucyrus City Schools. It currently provides D.A.R.E. services to eight schools in the county.
It has not been an easy year for the Sheriff’s department, however. Kent noted that they had assisted the Bucyrus Police Department with the four murders that occurred over Labor Day weekend.
“To investigate just one of those cases is overwhelming to an agency. Bucyrus PD was faced with four murder scenes at the same time,” Kent said. “It’s just not possible for one agency to do that. The Sheriff’s Office was able to provide manpower and staff to help investigate two of those murders.”
Less than a month later, the Sheriff’s Office had to handle a large-scale investigation when 15-year-old Rebecca Kemper went missing. The search was comprised of over 40 FBI agents and spanned three counties. The Sheriff’s Office had over 100 hours in overtime.
“These unexpected investigations cost a lot of money to do,” Kent said. “They are expensive but they are necessary.”
“I haven’t been trying to use any kind of scare tactics,” Kent said. “If this levy doesn’t pass, the Sheriff’s Office is still going to be here and we’re still going to serve the people. However, if it doesn’t pass there’s going to have to be drastic adjustments made. Cuts will have to be made; layoffs will likely occur and calls for service are going to have to be prioritized by emergency.”
The levy is a renewal and not additional money. At 2.75-mils, a homeowner with a $51,000 home pays $45 a year. Someone with a $150,000 home pays $129 per year under the renewal levy. The levy would be for five years and would commence in 2015. According to the county auditor, there are no expected increases in taxable values and should not change what the levy would cost a homeowner.
“The sheriff has done a fantastic job of keeping his budget in line and continuing to provide the services he’s been able to provide when the state has pushed back felony four and fives on the county at our expense when it used to go to the state,” said County Commissioner Jenny Vermillion. “So with what he’s been having to deal with as far as increased responsibilities from the state plus the demand of what’s going on with the heroin epidemic, the sheriff’s done a really excellent job of keeping his budget in line and still providing the protective services that our county deserves and needs.”
“It’s important to me and it’s important to the community also,” Kent said.