Topic: Sneak Peek Sheriff's View (Read 58508 times)

ozarkcavaliers · « **Reply #780 on:** July 12, 2009, 08:34:39 AM »

You are right JB. Something is going to happen and the Sheriffs Dept is going to fall flat on their faces because of the lack of man power. Things go unnoticed as it is now. The blame can only be put on those who do not grant the funding to support the depts needs

Valor7 · « **Reply #781 on:** July 18, 2009, 01:17:20 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #30 for the week of July 27 through 31, 2009.

Welcome back for another shot of information about the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. We had a busy week with a lot of action. The third floor of the courthouse had several trials but for once we did not have to assist very much. We did have a minute of panic in one section of the courthouse when a two-year old child found the hidden panic alarm button and gave it a strong push.

We assisted the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop I Marijuana Eradication team with an operation in the 29000 block of Rt. AB that uncovered a large marijuana growing operation. We assisted the Federal Postal Inspectors with another case and that investigation remains ongoing at this time. We handed off a number of our inmates to other agencies such as the Comanche County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office.

Our case number/calls for service count as of 12:20pm on 7-18-09 stands at 5,185 today. Our numbers continue to keep falling and that is very fortunate because we are way short on people right now. In order to give you an idea I will do a listing of the people we are short. As we all know we lost two deputies in the 2009 budget process. In the last three weeks we have lost two more that have left the department. We have one that tells us he is leaving and he is probably working his final two weeks right now. We have one deputy out on extended sick leave, one on annual military leave and one on a long vacation period.

Right now it is a struggle to keep two deputies on duty for each shift. We are racking up quite a bit of overtime that will surface some day and blast the budget into shreds but that will be another day. I know that I have said this before but our manpower totals are way short of what we need to do an adequate job for the citizens of Pulaski County. But I also realize that county law enforcement has never been a priority of the Pulaski County Commissioners. It will take a concentrated action movement by the citizens of Pulaski County to change that fact of life and so far I do not see much concern from the citizens of the county.

The bottom line is that we will do the best we can with what are given to work with and we hope that our efforts will keep the criminal wolf away from the door. But we also know that it will only be a matter of time before the criminal wolf huffs and puffs and blows the house down.

Our inmate count today (7-18-09) stands at a total of 50. That is a drop from last week but I am sure the count will go up again soon. The jail has quite an ebb and flow of inmates on a daily basis and the count changes frequently. The good news here is that at the mid point of the year the inmate board bill looks good. The board bill is the single biggest expense that we have and when we go over on the board bill the entire budget is in trouble. Our bill so far this year seems to be doing OK and I hope that continues.

The inmate medical and food bill look bad. The inmate medical bill appears to be taking a hard hit this year. In the 2008 budget we had spent a total (from memory hope to be accurate) of over $81,000.00 for inmate medical. For the 2009 budget they gave us $55,000.00 to cover medical and at the mid point of the year we have already used $41,000.00 so I think I can safely predict that we will be over our assigned budget this year and much closer to last years totals.

Our car expense totals also look fairly good at this point. Between our shortage of deputies on duty and the falling gas prices we might even make it under budget this year for auto expense. There are a few other areas that I would like to report on but it seems that I left the paperwork at the office and my memory will not retrieve the figures so that I might give them to you. There is an old joke about getting older and the first thing to go is your ……… well I cannot remember what we lose first.
Since my memory has departed maybe I should close out now for this week. Once again I will ask that you drive with care and keep your actions legal. We do not want your jail business but if you must visit the jail we did pay the electric bill and the lights are on.

ozarkcavaliers · « **Reply #782 on:** July 21, 2009, 05:02:36 PM »

Hey JB, just wanted to thank you and your dept. We needed you today and you came right through for us. Thanks again for all of your departments help!

Valor7 · « **Reply #783 on:** July 25, 2009, 05:12:10 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #31 for the week of July 27 through July 31, 2009.

Welcome aboard for another trip through Pulaski County with the men and women of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. I am composing this column on Saturday July 25, 2009. I returned from the Old Settler’s Day event in the Waynesville City Park a few hours ago and one of the perks of the day was the chance to speak to a lot of our citizens. One of the topics that I heard about several times was that the Daily Guide did not carry my column last week.

I think I am positive that I sent the column out but the Guide did not run the column so I am starting to suspect that I did something silly like write the column and fail to send it out. If so, that makes twice this year that I have done that. The column is routinely carried by a number of sources including both of our local web sites so if you have a PC you can find the column. The question that I have is am I going toward that time in life when I can hide my own Easter eggs and still be surprised when I find them?

I do know that column number 30 was mislabeled as to the date (I put July 27 to 31, 2009, the same as this weeks) so I am starting to think I messed up for sure. I will double my efforts to make sure this column sees print.

The news from the grant front is mixed. The good news is that it appears that we have successfully accepted the award of the grant that was given to us on July 10, 2009. The acceptance of an award requires several steps to be taken through the federal grant management (GMS) system. We now have $58,610.00 worth of new equipment that we can purchase. The bad news is that we are shown as past due on the grant reporting requirements. We seem to be missing the grant report for 3-1-09 to 3-31-09. When I go to the grant management system to complete the past due report I find only a “view” tab on the grant report page which will not allow me add information. I have sent in several requests for an “update” tab to be placed on the grant so I can complete the report.

I must confess that this is going to be interesting when I try to file reports on what we have spent for this grant, especially when you remember that we just received the grant on July 10th. For that matter the deadline for applying for this grant was sometime in late May of this year. The reports for May and June are not yet due. So if reading this explanation confuses you then welcome to the club. But you might be happy to know that this coming Monday (July 27^th) afternoon I am scheduled to join a live nationwide internet training session to learn how to complete the reports that are past due from a time frame before we got the grant.

This past week was great. I spent the time from Sunday July 19 through Thursday July 23, 2009, at the summer Missouri Sheriff’s Association training conference in Branson, Missouri. I could say that I had a lot of fun but it would be a small lie. I was in class and the wife was shopping. The training session was held in the Hilton Convention Center, which is next door to the new Branson landing area. I managed to make it their one time for about three hours during the entire week. My credit card however spent a whole lot more time throughout the landing area.

One of the classes we had exposed us to the dark side of dog fighting. I know that the Michael Vick case generated a lot of publicity nationwide on this issue but I had never had any formal training on this crime. Bluntly said I did not like what I learned. This is a real nasty crime with a lot of other criminal implications. The unfortunate side of this training is now that I have some idea of what to look for I realize that I have seen dog fighting training equipment during past years in our county. If any readers have information on this crime you may leave a message at 573-774-4790.

I know that in past column’s I have explained that there is a Missouri law on the books that requires the Sheriff of each county to acquire twenty hours of special training mandated by the Missouri Sheriff’s Association each year. If you fail to attend the training the County Clerk is required to with hold $2,000.00 from your yearly salary. In other words sit down, shut up, and enjoy the class.

I know that I promised more information on the midpoint of the year budget figures but frankly when I got back to work on Friday I had a number of rush situations to catch up on so I am going to have to pass one more time on the budget info. The short version is that past years have been worse.
Once again I seem to be out of space and I will close out today with a request that all of you please drive with care. Please keep your actions legal we do not need to clog the jail with new people. But if you must visit the lights are on.

Valor7 · « **Reply #784 on:** August 01, 2009, 04:28:53 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #32 for the week of August 3 through 7, 2009

Welcome aboard one more time as we attempt to take another trip around Pulaski County with the deputies of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. We have had a busy week. Right now I do not know where to start with the news and events of the week.

Our case number/calls for service count stands at 5,512 as of 3:00 pm on 8-1-09. We are still looking at a downward trend and we are still praying that the trend continues. I had intended to give a report in this column on the civil and criminal paper service for the first six months of 2009 as compared to the first six months of 2008. But it seems that I left the paper with the numbers at the office. So I will try for that next week.

We have had a serious rash of “jail disease” this week. It is astounding how many young people between the ages of 18 and 30 come to our jail and have “chest pains” or other major medical ailments that the folks in the emergency rooms just cannot seem to find and treat. Trip after trip we see this horrible medical situation unfold. And yes we know that they are faking illness but we have little choice but to take them to the hospital. We cannot afford to be found in a situation where we failed to provide medical care in the face of a “serious emergency”.

The bottom line is that the first time we refuse to take one to the hospital it will turn out that the inmate did have a serious problem. With our limited manpower we do not need this waste of time for bogus medical situations. What we need is an inmate healthcare company to move in and take over our jail. This would place the medical decisions into the hands of a doctor who has been trained in correctional healthcare. And the doctor would then determine which inmates were taken to the hospital. The bogus runs would cease and our time and taxpayer money would be more wisely spent. Most importantly the medical decisions about an inmates health issues would be made by a doctor and not untrained jail staff members.

It is somewhat discouraging that both Phelps and Miller Counties, who have large jail staff numbers, also have Advanced Correctional Healthcare as their medical company. So despite the fact they have more staff they make fewer trips to the ER then we do with only five jail staff members to run a 24/7/365 operation.

At this point I am sure many of you are asking yourselves what set the sheriff off this week? The answer is that we have really taken it on the chin of late. We had a 24-hour a day guard detail underway at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield for several days and that manpower drain was killing us. Then on Thursday afternoon we had three more inmates transported to St. John’s in Lebanon for treatment. So around 5:30pm this past Thursday we had a total of four officers on guard duty at a hospital outside of the county.

This waste of manpower does not just affect us. I am embarrassed to say that several members of the ER staff in Lebanon asked me on Thursday what was going on in our jail to prompt such a rush of business. I must commend the ER staff though because they remained very professional and quickly ruled out the “major medical issues” that brought our inmates to them. They treated and released them as quickly as possible. But we had also clearly wasted a whole bunch of their time and resources.

This is a situation that we must act on and there must be a change in the way we do business. And I have hopes for a change. At the Missouri Sheriff’s Association conference a few weeks ago I met with representatives of Advanced Correctional Healthcare and once again invited them to join me in a presentation before the Pulaski County Commission. This will be the third or fourth time they have presented before the commission during my term in office and I hope things turn out better this time.

In other news we were approved for a MODOT highway safety grant to the tune of $12,486 to pay our deputies to work overtime traffic enforcement for the fiscal year of 2010. I have already sent out a news release on this so I do not want to completely rehash the release. But I would like to point out that when you stop large numbers of vehicles for traffic violations you will find a lot of other criminal activity from drugs and burglary to active warrants and stolen cars. So the benefit of the traffic grant goes well beyond mere traffic enforcement.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department (MODOT) sent me a letter this week to tell us that the bridge construction on Mo. 17 just north of Waynesville would soon reach a critical stage of construction. MODOT plans to close off Lexington Road and reduce the traffic flow on Mo. 17 to one lane traffic starting August 12^th and lasting until about October the fifth. They will set up temporary traffic lights to handle the one-way traffic. When you consider the massive daily traffic count on Mo. 17 I think everyone will understand when I say we are all going to have to think about traffic safety when we are driving near the new bridges.

I believe that I have managed to complete another column. I hope you enjoyed the news and my medical rant. Please drive with care and please keep your actions legal. We do not want you in the jail but the lights are on.

Rainbow · « **Reply #785 on:** August 01, 2009, 04:47:55 PM »

Do the inmates not have to reimburse for anything of the hospital care? Why not put them on "punishment duties, such as picking up litter alongside the roadways for making bogus claims?

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #786 on:** August 02, 2009, 12:44:10 AM »

Now theres my window of opertunity. Free healthcare with a trip to the Hooscow. who caters the Jail now anyway? I can chat up JB and get some good doctoring, possibly some decent lunch...maybe not. Free health though? JB Im driving through the front door.....you might want to stay out of the office.....lol.

Just kidding of course. Im afraid of the Jail itis. Doesnt set well my Swine flu.

Valor7 · « **Reply #787 on:** August 02, 2009, 08:24:25 AM »

Not exactly folks. Missouri law makes the medical payment the inmates responsibility & you cannot use them for chain gangs per another law.

But there is another statute that allows the Commission to make medicaL PAYMENTS THEY DEEM NECESSARY.

JB

Valor7 · « **Reply #788 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:55:30 AM »

The Sheriff’s View for the week of Aug. 10 through 14, 2009.

Welcome aboard one more time as we bring you the latest news and views from the Pulaski County Missouri Sheriff’s office. It was a long and hot week for us last week and the new week does not appear to offer any promise of relief. It was also a busy week for us and it is time to write.

The big news of the week was the action by the Pulaski County Commission to approve my request for an inmate healthcare company to take over the medical problems of the jail. As you will recall in my last column I jumped up on my soapbox and blasted away at our medical problems. For once action was taken to solve the problem before my rant even made the newspapers. And a profound action it was indeed. The contract the Commission awarded to Advance Correctional Healthcare (ACH) will completely change the way we do business in the jail.

The change was long overdue and will bring many advantages to us. First and foremost the inmates will be treated on site in the jail by a nurse /doctor team working together. The nurse will be in the jail 15 hours per week and the doctor will do a “house call” every second week. But best of all both will be on call 24/7/365. We will be given a set of written procedures to follow and if there is any doubt as to what we should do in the absence of the medical team then will call the medical team into action. Given time to get the program fully in place our level of inmate care will equal that of the Miller and Phelps County jails which also have ACH as their health care providers.

Over the past four years many relatives of our inmates have expressed their concerns to me over the quality of our medical care for the inmates. During the nighttime hours and on weekends and holidays our only choice was a trip to a hospital emergency room for an ailment that on the ER scale could be considered minor in nature. Thus we were committed to long waits and many overtime hours for the staff. It is a well-known fact among the Missouri Sheriff’s offices that many inmate escape attempts occur during medical transports and treatments. Thus the ability to have the inmates treated in the jail is a safety plus advantage for the deputy, the inmate and the public in general who could find themselves in the middle of an escape attempt.

The contract will also mean lower taxpayer costs for the treatment of inmates and their necessary drugs. As of June 30, 2009, we had spent just shy of $42,000.00 for inmate care this year out of a $55,000.00 budget item. Last year we spent $81,442.00 for medical care. In 2007 it was $52,556.00 and in 2006 it was $72,984.00. The contract for ACH calls for a yearly payment of just under $48,000.00.

In other news the June dispatch totals revealed that we had 2,508 phone calls and 711 people at the front window. For July the totals were phone calls 2,349 and 757 people at the front window. I cannot give you the yearly totals at this time. Due to our personnel struggles in dispatch we have fallen way behind and the totals have not been reported to me for some time now. I am not sure we can recover the information for the totals and with the emphasis that we need to place on our dispatch training efforts during our current crisis I am not sure we should put any effort into the recovery of the data.

I had a reader ask for some basic facts about our agency. We cover 550 square miles of Pulaski County landmass. I cannot give you a figure for the total of road miles we have to travel. According to the local chamber of commerce the figure for population was right at 52,000 but they have a new survey out and I do not know what is has listed. The sheriff’s side of the operational budget gives us a total of $738,553.00 to enforce the law in Pulaski County. The remainder of the $1,384,428.00 budget goes to the jail operation. We currently have a total of 13 paid full time road deputies (I am included in the 13) to enforce the law. We try our best to have at least two deputies on duty at all times. But we frequently fall short because we just do not have the adequate manpower to cover this county. Thank God for our force of reserve deputies who have saved our bacon more times than I can count.

We serve about 1,900 criminal papers each year. We serve about 3,600 civil papers each year. We have a yearly average of about 62 inmates per day on our jail list. During the past four years we have had two deputies shot. I suspect we average three vehicle breakdowns per month. We have a total of 29 full and part time employees. Last year we had 10,593 calls for service. So far this year (as of 8-9-09) we have had 5,650 calls for service.

At this point I believe that I have made it through another column. I would like to remind everyone that the big yellow school busses will soon start to roll and excited kids will be running around, frequently right onto the roadway into your path of travel. We also have the scheduled one lane roadway that will start on 8-12-09 on Missouri 17 between Crocker and Waynesville. So please drive with care and stay alert. We do not want to help load you or anyone else into an ambulance because of a traffic crash. The jail lights are on!

jlh · « **Reply #789 on:** August 10, 2009, 05:45:37 AM »

Glad to hear the good news JB. It's nice to see that the Comissioners are working with you this time.

Sheriff J. B. King · « **Reply #790 on:** August 15, 2009, 06:27:31 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #34 for the week of Aug. 17 through 21, 2009.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the deputies of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. It has been hot and we are still short on manpower. We have been busy and we have racked up the OT hours for our people.

Our first item of news is the loss of Deputy Brandon Robertson who has been with us for six years. He leaves us to move to the animal control position with the Waynesville Police Department. The pay is better and the paid employee benefit package too good to pass up for a family man. We will miss him and all we can say is Woof-Woof (goodbye and good luck) Brandon. We ALL promise you that we will torment you where ever we find you in the official discharge of your new duties, Woof!

For the past year now my Chief Deputy has waged a relentless battle with me in an effort to move me out of my 6-cylinder Dodge and put me into a “big boy” patrol car. His argument was that I was responding to far too many calls to continue working from the poorly equipped administrative vehicle. While I was not in disagreement with him I could not do anything about that until this past week. We have purchased a “new” vehicle for the department. We bought a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria with 120,000 miles and it is currently being outfitted as my new vehicle. We hope to have it in service in about ten days.

The battle of the budget continues. As of July 31, 2009, for the budget item of, supplies for the jail, we had a total of $64.42 left for the year out of an $8,000 budget. The jail supplies have usually run around the $14, 000 to $15,000 mark each year. The past two year we were given $5,000 each year which we depleted promptly. In order to make up the difference we raided the inmate security fund the past two years to make up the balance. In doing that for the past two years we pretty well shot the inmate security fund out of business.

As of July 31, 2009, the inmate security fund had built back up to a total of $4,527.76 as a balance so with a little luck and careful spending we may make it to the end of the year without going into the red. However for 2010 budget the security fund will be completely done and we will have to look back at the 2006 budget which had $15,000.00 for jail supply. In 2006 we spent an actual amount of $13,340.00 and with the rise in prices I am sure the full $15K will be needed in the budget for 2010.

We also hit the brick wall in July when it comes to the inmate medical care. As of 7-31-2009 our balance was $23.81 out of a $55,000.00 budget. In 2008 we spent $81,442.91 on inmate medical and the Commission gave us $55,000.00 for 2009. At this time I believe that we have other bills for about $7,000.00 yet to be paid. Then we have the cost of the new inmate medical care plan for the jail yet to be paid. So at this point my prediction is that we will equal or slightly exceed the 2008 budget figure for medical expense this year. The folks from the Advanced Correctional Healthcare Company tell me that the pure inmate medical costs can be roughly estimated at $1,000 per each inmate on the yearly total list. We generally average about 62-64 inmates per day for the year. That cost does not include dental treatment.

But the budget news is not all gloom and doom. The automobile expenses are going well and unless gasoline prices jump off the chart we may well end the year just under our budget figure. We are also looking fairly good in total inmate board paid to other counties and we might make it under budget in that column as well. In the meantime take two aspirin and call me at the end of the year for the final outcome.

In other news we had a major burglary last week with five weapons stolen from a business located within our county jurisdiction. Due to some outstanding work by the St. Robert Police who were investigating another crime we were handed suspects in this case on a silver platter and working with St. Robert Police Officers we have recovered all five weapons. As soon as we can get the details sorted out I will issue a news release for this case. As I can say here is job well done to SRPD!

So far we have had little trouble with the new one lane roadway on Mo. 17 north of Waynesville. Likewise the yellow busses seem to have rolled this past week without major chaos and critical events. I would like to remind everyone to drive with care and please keep your actions legal. We do not want your jail business but our lights are on.

Seeg · « **Reply #791 on:** August 15, 2009, 08:18:17 PM »

Quote from: Sheriff J. B. King on August 15, 2009, 06:27:31 PM

The Sheriff’s View #34 for the week of Aug. 17 through 21, 2009.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the deputies of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. It has been hot and we are still short on manpower. We have been busy and we have racked up the OT hours for our people.

Our first item of news is the loss of Deputy Brandon Robertson who has been with us for six years. He leaves us to move to the animal control position with the Waynesville Police Department. The pay is better and the paid employee benefit package too good to pass up for a family man.

And therein lies the problem; When a county deputy of 6 years has to leave his post to be a dog catcher at a small town municipality to rec'v more pay and benefits. Wow.... what a mess!

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #792 on:** August 16, 2009, 07:30:07 AM »

Quote from: Seeg103 on August 15, 2009, 08:18:17 PM

And therein lies the problem; When a county deputy of 6 years has to leave his post to be a dog catcher at a small town municipality to rec'v more pay and benefits. Wow.... what a mess!

That same story is repeated time after time. Someday they will wake up.

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #793 on:** August 16, 2009, 10:28:17 PM »

All the training and job expieriance wasted . I feel cheated outa my tax dollar

Vado Del Rio · « **Reply #794 on:** August 17, 2009, 03:59:52 AM »

I can't even muster the energy to respond. Brandon IS a wonderful asset to our law enforcement community. No matter where he works, he'll do an outstanding job in any capacity tasked. Waynesville is so lucky.

DerekW · « **Reply #795 on:** August 17, 2009, 12:21:10 PM »

I would honestly like to understand HOW or WHY the Law Enforcement agency responsible for all of Pulaski County appears to be so poorly funded. It seems like a funky math formula, which states that funding is equal to the inverse of the square mileage within the agency's area of responsibility. So the greater the area, the less monies are allocated. I just does not pass my common sense test. Maybe I need to drink a lot of Kool-aid or something to get it???
If one of you can show me the light and tell me what has been done to fix it in the past I'd appreciate it.
I remember when POST was getting organized...that made sense but I am not sure why that fizzled. I am willing to stick my neck out for what is right....I've been doing it for over 19 years and soon I'll be able to volunteer my time to make a local difference. I cannot wait!!

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #796 on:** August 18, 2009, 12:16:02 AM »

Quote from: tpgunbiz on August 16, 2009, 10:28:17 PM

All the training and job expieriance wasted . I feel cheated outa my tax dollar

You are right there. I got tired of everyone coming in (commissioner included) and saying "with your training and experience you should be making more" blah blah blah but you see how far talk gets you.

I truly hope that the mandatory state pay raise for deputies finally gets finished in court and is upheld. It won't help the jailers or dispatchers but at least then the dept. will have the means to keep experienced officers and nobody can stop the process.

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #797 on:** August 18, 2009, 01:33:07 AM »

Just out of curiosity. whats it pay roughly an hour? I know its salary but Im curious as to how it slices . I heard recently that Burgerking on post hires at 10+ an hour. seems steep for a burger flipper compared to a law enforcer.so Im wondering what the difference in pay is an hour.

Sheriff J. B. King · « **Reply #798 on:** August 18, 2009, 09:34:52 AM »

Base dispatch $8.75
Base Jail $10.26
Base deputy $10.77

As time (senior) goes by things get slightly better for the employee

Top dispatch $9.50
Top Jail $10.74
Top deputy (18 years) $12.02

Not so hot right?

JB

Vado Del Rio · « **Reply #799 on:** August 18, 2009, 09:48:27 PM »

Yeah, and the Commissioners make about $75.00 per hour based on the number of hours they work per week. Granted, some put in more "many more" hours while some do just the minimal in oversight of our deteriorating general revenue fund.

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #800 on:** August 18, 2009, 11:26:28 PM »

I have the most layed back job of all and I could not survive with your guys pay. I commend those of you who do it, but i dont know why the hell you do.

Vado Del Rio · « **Reply #801 on:** August 19, 2009, 12:56:08 AM »

TpGun, I'm just a reserve and put in roughly 8-16 hours per month depending on the needs of the department. If I had to work and pay bills, I'd probably be out on the Fort along with everyone else.

I'm here to tell you though, these full time guys and gals are an EXTRA SPECIAL wonderful group of dedicated professionals. Folks can poke fun at their weight and all that, but I admire each and every deputy, dispatcher, and jailer for their loyalty and dedication. They are pulled, pushed, and put up with more crap than most Marine privates! For that, they'll always have my admiration................

Sheriff J. B. King · « **Reply #802 on:** August 22, 2009, 01:00:10 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #35 for the week of August 24 through 28, 2009.

Welcome aboard one more time for the latest news that might affect the operation of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. We have been quite busy of late and we are improving somewhat in our manpower on the road. We got one deputy back to work that had been out for his annual two weeks military training. Then we have the case of the missing “grandma” deputy who has been out of state for the birth of a grandchild. Her vacation time is almost up and we get her back this next week.

We had been tempted to call grandma deputy and tell her to cut the vacation short, drop the new grandbaby, and return to work. Turns out that none of my command staff (me included) were brave enough to make that call so she enjoyed the entire vacation time she requested. We will slowly get back up to full strength on the road.

Meanwhile in the jail staff we are still short one member of the staff who is out for a medical problem for an extended period. Since we only have five jail staff members to start with who are trying to cover the jail on a 24/7/365 basis you can imagine what kind of coverage we have with four people on the 24/7/365 basis. But we know the county likes to pay out those overtime dollars and we sure will rack up a bunch of them among the jail staff in August.

Our jail count has slowly increased back into the low sixties once again and we are housing more inmates out of county. At this time it still looks like we will have a decent chance to come in slightly under budget for inmate board this year.

We have been trying to round up equipment that we will need in the jail when the folks from Advanced Correctional Healthcare take over on 9-1-2009. We have secured an exam table with the help of friends and all we have to do is go pick it up. At this time it appears that we will be fully ready for the ACH changeover on the first of the new month.

During the past week we spent far more time than normal helping control traffic at the sites of a whole bunch of traffic crashes. There seems to have been one nasty crash after another every day last week. Please drive with care the members of the entire emergency response system around these parts are very tired and cranky.

I am returning to the column at this time. I had to leave the office to respond to an active alarm. Both of us on duty started toward the alarm and one car broke down on the way. We have had it towed to a mechanic who is looking at it and hopefully can repair the car quick. This day is not going well and right now we do not have spare cars at the office. Both of our spare cars are in service right now replacing other cars that are in the shop.

Besides the vehicle breakdown we were just notified that one of our inmates at the Phelps County Jail is now headed to a St. Louis area hospital and may well be there for some time. We have a jail staff member chasing after the ambulance to assume the guard position. That leaves three jail staff members to do the 24/7/365 job here.

Then to add insult to injury my office computer just had some kind of PC burp and I lost several paragraphs from this column. I did a reboot of the system and I am back to work at this time. All of this sure does make me wonder what will happen next.

Several of my deputies have asked me to remind everyone that if you do not have a good address displayed in front of your home we may not find you in the middle of the emergency. I know I handled a call a few days ago and I could not find the correct address because nobody in that neighborhood had addresses displayed. So please post your address.

I would like to remind everyone that we are headed toward that time of the year when the shop with a cop Christmas program will once again rise to the top of the list of jobs. We are determined to host more needy kids that year and that means we will have to raise money for the shopping. We will let you know whenever an event is scheduled.

I am at the point where I think I better close our while I can. Please drive with care and please keep your actions legal we do not need you in the jail. But as I have said before if you are determined to spend time in our jail be assured that the lights do work.

okie the thread killer · « **Reply #803 on:** August 22, 2009, 01:37:40 PM »

Wow JB, all that good news then the other shoe dropped! Great news on the medical care, sucky news on the cars and the jailer situation...Thanks for all you do for us.

cowboy · « **Reply #804 on:** August 22, 2009, 09:00:28 PM »

Why to St Louis instead of hospital in Rolla?

Vado Del Rio · « **Reply #805 on:** August 22, 2009, 10:37:27 PM »

Medical professionals "doctors" make those calls, Cowboy. If we objected to their recommendations, and thus the "criminal" did the funky chicken, some legal eagle would clean our plow. Trust me on that one...............................

You know I'm not a bull crapper here..................

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #806 on:** August 23, 2009, 01:46:00 AM »

How many exam tables you need Jb. I have a doctors exam table in my garage that has the stirrups and birthing additions, plus drawers on both sides. sits up lays down,Its just like the ones at doctors offices. I was going to use it in my shop but Its a little much for what we do. Id be willing to donate it , to better my countys law enforcement. It comes with 1 ass-less gown and the paper to pull over it for sanitary conditions. if you guys want it.....call me at 855-4343....All I want is a 8 foot statue in the lobby of the sheriffs department of me in return........Ok Ok you can just have it. Its not a junk one it is nice....dusty right now, but real nice.

ozarkcavaliers · « **Reply #807 on:** August 23, 2009, 08:05:52 AM »

Very nice donation TP! JB, their are people in the community that would offer their time and efforts to help in any way that they can, such as the Xmas shop but aren't sure how to go about getting involved or haven't heard of the need, period. Putting it out there, with phone numbers etc... would be a great idea.

Sheriff J. B. King · « **Reply #808 on:** August 23, 2009, 08:28:43 AM »

Quote from: cowboy on August 22, 2009, 09:00:28 PM

Why to St Louis instead of hospital in Rolla?

Well he was at Phelps (PCRMC) to start with and they could not handle his "condition" so he was sent to a specialist in St. Louis and that doc sent him back with no action taken. So we lucked out that there is no several day guard detail in St. Louis.
JB

Sheriff J. B. King · « **Reply #809 on:** August 23, 2009, 01:17:51 PM »

Quote from: tpgunbiz on August 23, 2009, 01:46:00 AM

How many exam tables you need Jb. I have a doctors exam table in my garage that has the stirrups and birthing additions, plus drawers on both sides. sits up lays down,Its just like the ones at doctors offices. I was going to use it in my shop but Its a little much for what we do. Id be willing to donate it , to better my countys law enforcement. It comes with 1 ass-less gown and the paper to pull over it for sanitary conditions. if you guys want it.....call me at 855-4343....All I want is a 8 foot statue in the lobby of the sheriffs department of me in return........Ok Ok you can just have it. Its not a junk one it is nice....dusty right now, but real nice.

Answer is yes, PM on the way.
JB

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