Topic: Sneak Peek Sheriff's View (Read 58506 times)

Valor7 · « **Reply #900 on:** January 30, 2010, 12:12:41 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #6 for the week of Feb. 1 through 5, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the deputies of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Help! I am being held a prisoner in my own home by Mr. Snow. Well at least that is the way it feels right now. I traded in my small front wheel drive patrol car this past fall for a rear wheel drive full size patrol car. Right now, today, that seems to have been a mistake. But I know that the snow will pass and responding to crimes in progress in a fully equipped vehicle is much safer than my former little car so I guess I should shut up for now. But I do wish we had more 4X4 vehicles for the department. Then again we just finished budget number six for my time in office and my perfect record of not one penny for a car purchase in the budget is still standing. Repeat, not one cent for the purchase of a car in six years. If you do not see this as a major financial failing for the county then I do not know how to explain it to you. We still make house calls and cars are critical equipment for us.

My former Chief Deputy, the infamous Hondo, always told me that we should adopt a common Honduran method of police response that is used in some of their smaller population centers. If you want a police officer at your house you send a fully prepaid round trip taxi to the police station. The officer responds to your home in the taxi, takes care of business, and then returns to the station. Or I guess I could still put the hitching rack in front of the office for our new four legged short distance response unit. I am sure we have room to stack the hay by the side of the courthouse.

Hopefully by now you are all laughing a bit to brighten up a very snowy and dreary day in the Ozarks. So far the deputies have been able to respond in a reasonable time. The local Troopers are taking numerous hits or maybe I should say the median barrier cable on I-44 is taking numerous hits. Along with a large number of ditches, trees, other cars, and so forth as the latest snow accident toll mounts. If you do not have to get out in this stuff then stay home. If you think you must get out then take a minute and please rethink the idea.

I just checked with dispatch and our current calls for service/case number count stands at 641. For the same time last year the total was 609. Hopefully we do not exceed last year’s count which was down just a hair from the year before. But I suspect this snow storm will add a bunch of numbers to the total.

On the budget front the 2010 Pulaski County budget has been completed and formally adopted by the Pulaski County Commission. I have very mixed feelings about this budget. I had put spots for two deputy slots into this budget and they both got whacked. One of these slots was an attempt to regain a lost position from 2008. The second slot was one that had been empty for a short time in 2009 and it was also eliminated. But, because of the new federal evidence room position one person transferred into the grant position and that opened up a salary line for us to hire another deputy for 2010. The bottom line here is that we will have status quo in deputy positions for 2010.

While I am very unhappy that we were not able to advance the department forward for 2010 I also understand that in this day and age of massive budget cuts in government spending that bluntly said a status quo situation is very close to a win-win situation. I routinely talk to elected Sheriff’s all over Missouri and many of them have been cut off at the knees by drops in local revenue. I know one Sheriff with a seven million dollar budget who had to cut forty percent of his budget. Compared to him we are standing tall and in good shape. I know that we as a county are in fairly good shape for these hard economic times, after all our local sales tax base has never declined. It may not have risen very high above the previous year but the figures were upward in nature. However as the CEO of the sheriff’s department I view it as my job to push for advances in manpower and equipment in order for us to better safeguard the county. My job is to push hard and if that attitude offends anyone I do not know what to say to you.

On Friday I was able to commit to the purchase of another vehicle. This one will be a 2005 Ford with 94,000 miles. The full purchase price was $5,155.00. I would like to thank the Board of Directors of the Pulaski County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund (CLERF) for their support with this purchase. They are funding $2,500.00 toward the car and my civil fee fund will pick up the remainder of the cost. Major Cristoffer told me Friday that he only needed about one more work hour and the wrecked car we recently bought will be ready to issue to a deputy. Hopefully we can pick up this newest car soon and he can get to work on this unit.

Once again I seem to have run out of words. Please drive with extreme care during the next few snow days here in Pulaski County and please stay out of our jail. We do not want your business but if you must visit the jail lights are bright.

Valor7 · « **Reply #901 on:** February 06, 2010, 10:22:38 AM »

The Sheriff’s View #7 for the week of Feb. 8 through 12, 2010.

Welcome aboard on one more snow filled weekend full of thrills and chills. And maybe a few slips and falls onto the backside of the planet. The weather has been our top priority of course but we have also been busy chasing burglars and meth labs of late. In a departure from my usual routine I have actually started this column on Friday afternoon. I have been at the Lake of the Ozarks the past three days for the Missouri Sheriff’s Association (MSA) winter training conference. We sort of lucked out today because the instructor for our last three hour class failed to show up and we were dismissed early to return home. Since it was snowing like crazy at the time I do not believe any sheriff objected.

In any event I returned to the county in time to visit our deputies at a location on Rt. NN in the Laquey area as they served a search warrant on a suspected meth lab location. We had requested help from the Lake Ozark Narcotic Enforcement Group (LANEG) and the troops were busy in the snow. At this time I do not have enough information to do a news release but I hope to get one out soon. While I was gone I also know that progress was made on several burglary cases. Hopefully the next few days will see several news releases from us. I would like to say thanks to Major Cristoffer and Capt. Anderson for holding down the fort in my absence.

As usual the MSA training was useful. We had a special segment on rural agriculture crimes and there was a lot to learn. I know that we have had few such crimes here in Pulaski County and I believe that in the future we will be able to do a better job on these crimes in part because the Missouri State Highway Patrol has established a special agriculture crime unit within the Division of Drug and Crime Control (DDCC) to work these cases. Even better a good friend of mine from the Highway Patrol has been selected as the special investigator for our area. We will not have any problem working with him or receiving his special help. Agriculture in Missouri represents a four billion dollar a year industry and there are a lot of thieves who look toward local farmers for something to steal. I am currently working on a new program for our deputies to follow that should help our local enforcement efforts for agriculture crimes.

A number of the Sheriff’s at the conference reported that their area had been hit by telemarketers asking folks for their donations and making the claim that they represented the Missouri Sheriff’s Association. Bluntly said the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association DOES NOT USE, HAS NEVER USED, and WILL PROBABLY NEVER USE telemarketers to solicit donations. If you get a call from somebody claiming to represent us hang up on them. Do not send them money.

This past week we sent in our 2009 racial profile numbers to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. I was going to include them in the column today but forgot to bring home the info. However I think I can quote the main numbers from memory. Please remember though that as one gets older the hearing, vision, and memory go away. I believe that we had a total of 993 traffic stops. There were 161 citations and 755 warnings issued as a result of those stops. Many of the traffic stops came about because of the MODOT safety grants that we have worked. We have obtained about $20,000.00 worth of over time money for the deputies over the past three years and about $10,000.00 worth of free equipment so far. When we first started the MODOT programs we had almost no radar equipment to work with and it has been an uphill fight to get the cars equipped. At this time I believe we still have five cars that are not radar equipped and that includes my car. Hopefully the 2010-2011 grant year with MODOT will take care of equipment for those cars.

The state of Missouri , MODOT, and the MSHP have all launched an aggressive war on traffic fatalities over the past five years and as a result the 2009 fatality count was the lowest since (from memory) 1950. The MODOT safety programs like the Hazardous Moving Violations grant that we have used the past three years are just one part of the total effort to reduce the number of lives lost. I just checked the MSHP website and the following are the correct fatality totals for the past few years. In 2007 it was 992 killed. In 2008 it was 960, and in 2009 the total dropped to 878. No matter how you list these numbers they represent a lot of people killed in car wrecks in Missouri and most of them were preventable. The toll on the family and friends of those killed can never be added up in any positive way and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work to keep the fatal numbers here in Pulaski County as low as possible.

Our calls for service/case number count stood at 792 this Saturday morning the 6^th of February at 8:22am. Last year at this time the count stood at 781. So that would mean we are roughly running neck to neck with last year so far.

I believe that once again I have made it to the end of a column. Drive with care or you may be pulled over by the deputy in our newest vehicle which is now on the road. Please keep your actions legal because we do not want you in our jail. Remember that as a county we cannot afford to put you in the jail. But as I have said before if you are determined to visit our jail you will find that the lights are bright.

Valor7 · « **Reply #902 on:** February 14, 2010, 10:19:51 AM »

The Sheriff’s View #8 for the week of Feb. 15 through 19, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another visit with the employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Here we are on another gloomy and overcast day in the Ozarks with the weatherman making all kinds of nasty statements. Are you ready for some springtime? I know my deputies are tired of driving on ice in rear wheel patrol cars. They are ready for sunshine.

We had a bang up week last week. The problem was the “banging noise” was caused by our patrol cars hitting things. I believe it was last Monday we sent two cars to a rush call on Red Oak Road. Both nailed the ditch and one got a fence. Red Oak Road had a lot of left over ice looking for wayward patrol cars. The week before we nailed one tree on ice and Bambi, or I should say Bambi’s mom, bagged another patrol car. Then we had the big chase on Friday the 12^th and another car ended up with damage during the final crash stop. I missed a ditch on Mo. 17 by such a narrow margin that I cannot say skill was involved. The miss was just pure luck on my part. Yup, we are all ready for sunshine, lots of sunshine.

We have been involved in a bunch of criminal cases of late but the pace has been fast and I have had no time to put together news releases. I believe that the chase which started in Maries County on Friday night got some press. The chase went through Phelps County and ended up here in Pulaski County with the final stop due to a double spike strip tap to the vehicle tires and a foot pursuit that ended tangled in a barbed wire fence. I know that Maries and Phelps Counties hauled away the people in the vehicle. We had the LANEG troops in to check the vehicle for a possible mobile meth lab. But right now which county will file what charge is still up in the air.

We had another series of incidents on the Friday two weeks ago when it was snowing so hard. We had two suspects commit a total of two car thefts and four burglaries in three counties. Through a teamwork investigation effort between the St. Robert City Police and the Sheriff’s offices of Texas, Laclede, and Pulaski County we managed to get them into custody and again the information on who is filing what charge in which county is something I have just not had time to put together.

We also had a possible meth lab incident on Rt. NN in the Laquey area that involved a search warrant and again I have not had the time to put together the new release on that case. We had a domestic assault and burglary case where charges were filed two weeks ago and another one last week with the same two charges. Like I said we have been swamped of late with criminals.

This is also the time of the year when we must file a number of required reports with different agencies. I believe that last week I mentioned the racial profile report to the Missouri Attorney General which has been completed. I might add that the numbers I quoted from memory last week were correct. We had a total of 993 traffic stops with 161 citations and 755 warnings during 2009.

Then there is the special census report on deaths in jail custody, along with several required counts of inmates for the year of 2009. I finished that report this week. We also had some paperwork action required on several of our current grants and this was also payroll week for the county. So the paper push has been in full stride of late.

On the patrol car front the wrecked car we bought some time ago was to receive the last piece of equipment, the inmate cage, before it was turned over to the deputy. That car should be on the street after this weekend. On Wednesday the 10^th Major Cristoffer and Deputy Bench went to the Kansas City area to pick up our newest vehicle a gold color 2005 Ford with 94,500 miles. I would like to thank the Board of Directors of the Pulaski County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund (CLERF) for their help with this last purchase.

It will soon be time to apply for the 2010-2011 MODOT traffic safety grants. I will be required to attend a meeting in Springfield soon to discuss the grant application with MODOT officials. Then the paperwork for that grant will need several hours to prepare. But the good news here is that these grants all have a 100% payback of the funds spent by us.

The case number/calls for service count this week stands at 968 at 9:30am on Sunday the 14^th. Last year on Feb. 15, 2009, the count stood at 980. We seem to be more or less on pace with last year. And I believe that does it for this week. Please drive with care and please keep your actions legal. We do not want you in our jail. But remember the jail lights are bright!

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #903 on:** February 15, 2010, 09:48:12 AM »

How do the traffic stops, UTTs and warnings compare with 2008?

Valor7 · « **Reply #904 on:** February 16, 2010, 07:46:52 AM »

Quote from: Yankee Trader on February 15, 2010, 09:48:12 AM

How do the traffic stops, UTTs and warnings compare with 2008?

2007; Total stops 523 citations 155 warnings 309

2008; Total stops 869, citations 211 warnings 645

2009; total stops 993, citations 161 warnings 755

Valor7 · « **Reply #905 on:** February 16, 2010, 07:59:25 AM »

YT, just for grins I went back for the three year period BEFORE I took office and here are those racial profile sheets.

2002; Stops 262, citations 9, warnings 205

2003; Stops 111, citations 12, warnings 69

2004; Stops 139, Citations 24, warnings 76

JB

tpgunbiz · « **Reply #906 on:** February 17, 2010, 02:48:24 AM »

Are these only racial people? Or is this not racial profile sheets?

Valor7 · « **Reply #907 on:** February 17, 2010, 07:35:46 AM »

Quote from: tpgunbiz on February 17, 2010, 02:48:24 AM

Are these only racial people? Or is this not racial profile sheets?

Racial profile sheet on the driver of every vehicle stop we make.

JB

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #908 on:** February 17, 2010, 07:36:47 AM »

Looks great! Thanks for digging up the information.

Valor7 · « **Reply #909 on:** February 20, 2010, 06:08:38 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #9 for the week of Feb. 22 through 26, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Today our trip will be shared by members of the Waynesville City Police Department for much of the column. I am sure by now that most of you have heard of the massive drug seizure made by Waynesville City Police Officers this past week. I will address that case at length today in the column.

Let me restate that point. I will address parts of this case in a public forum but there is much that I cannot reveal at this point. I have heard critical remarks about the drug seizure made by people who felt the officer on the scene should have arrested somebody. The facts are that the first Waynesville City Officer who sniffed out the illegal activity had no clue as to exactly what was going on. He had three vehicles in close proximity to each other and only one car had people moving toward that vehicle. He went after the people and sent a second Waynesville officer to the car with the trunk up. The second officer discovered the mega load of drugs and promptly requested all units on duty to respond to the scene. I have not asked him about that request but I would say his first thought would have been that such mega loads of dope frequently have armed guards covering the shipment from another vehicle. I know it would have been my first thought.

I must tell you that the first city officer in this case is one of my former deputies and I am right proud of his actions. It was later determined that the people in the car he went after were not involved in the case but it turned out that they did witness the actual suspect fleeing the scene on foot and were able to give the officers his direction of travel and explain why the officer did not see him run from the scene.

The seizure amounted to 89 pounds of meth and 99.6 pounds of cocaine. While the cocaine might be viewed as a “routine” seizure for law enforcement the meth is probably going to set the all time high record. Nobody I know of has ever heard of a bigger meth load seizure in Missouri. The Drug Enforcement Administration sent several agents to the Waynesville City Police Department to launch a federal investigation. The DEA agents were here most of Tuesday. As luck would have it I already had a scheduled meeting set with the ranking DEA officials in Springfield, Missouri, on Wednesday. We completed our scheduled business and we did discuss this case at length. I can tell you for a fact that the DEA has been a busy bunch of beavers working on this case but until their public information officer returns my call that is all I will say.

Then on Thursday the drug ditch got dug a little deeper. A Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputy made a routine traffic stop on a red 2004 Dodge truck on Mo. 17 near Witmor Farms for weaving on the roadway. The driver turned out to have a suspended Missouri driver’s license. As the deputy was talking with him the driver mentioned that he was looking for a lost friend who was driving a black car. The deputy alertly connected the information and called for backup. Additional deputies and Waynesville City Police Officers responded to her aid. The suspects were detained on charges and the Waynesville City Police drug dog strongly alerted to the truck.

The DEA once again responded to our area and continued their investigation. The subjects from the red Dodge pickup were determined to be a “recovery” unit looking for the lost drug shipment. While there is nothing to connect them to the original drug seizure they both turned out to be illegals and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency requested that they be held on a federal detainer.

I suspect by now that most of you understand that we had a busy week. I might add that back on Tuesday just a few hours after the big drug seizure there was a reported meth lab explosion in the Dixon area. At the time our deputies thought this would somehow turn out to be connected to the big seizure so they swarmed the Dixon area. After an hour or so they learned that it was local activity with the usual suspects involved and that the explosion had been inside the Dixon City limits so our deputies returned to Waynesville. I believe I can say that the two Pulaski County deputies on duty the night of Feb. 16, 2010, had a frantic work shift.

As a result of all the drug enforcement activity this past week another incident occurred. On Friday night I attended the Waynesville/St Robert Chamber of Commerce Annual Leadership meeting at the St. Robert Community Center. There were a lot of local leaders present who told me during the social hour they were very proud of the work that the law enforcement officers had done in our area. At one point during the event the Master of Ceremony Mike Dunbar also made a series of very passionate remarks of praise for our local law enforcement. The next thing I knew the crowd was standing, looking at me, and applauding.

I want to make it very clear that I was the only active duty law enforcement officer in the room and while the crowd may have been looking my direction the standing ovation was for ALL members of law enforcement working in Pulaski County. I would like to say thank you to the crowd. I was truly touched by your action. I am sure that all of the local officers will also be very pleased when they hear the news.

At this point there is no way I can compete with or top what I just described. I believe that it is time to close out this column. Please drive with care and please keep your actions legal. We do not need you in our jail but the jail lights work just fine and they are bright and ready for your visit.

CameraMan · « **Reply #910 on:** February 21, 2010, 10:52:33 AM »

The DEA is a dirty little mark on our American flag. They represent slow DEAth to American principles.
Prohibitionist's are UN-American and any 4th grade student understands this country was founded on the principles of individual freedoms.” A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." -Abraham Lincoln U.S. President.
These same people pushing prohibition today would be targeted for treason investigation had they been around during the founding of our country! Don’t Be fooled American people any prohibition enforcement against us is as UN-AMERICAN as Hitler!!

Valor7 · « **Reply #911 on:** February 28, 2010, 09:46:13 AM »

The Sheriff’s View #10 for the week of March 1 through 5, 2010.

Welcome once again for another column visit with the employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. Good golly Charlie Brown is it March already? How did we get here so fast? The good news today is the sunshine and the temperature at 3pm today is supposed to be 49 degrees. So grit your teeth just a little while longer and old man winter will fade away for a few months.

The temp is not the only number on the rise. Our case number/calls for service count stands at 1,355 today and exactly 364 days ago the case number count stood at 1,303 in 2009. It is too early in the year to try to predict any trend with these numbers but I can hope for a reduction. It is no secret that we lost another full time deputy position in the 2010 budget. When you add in the two we lost in 2009 we have another trend that must stop. With the case numbers on the increase and the deputy positions on the decrease business as usual gets harder to do each year. I have said before that the train is approaching the washed out bridge and the wreck will not be nice when it happens. I stand by those words once again. It is getting much harder to pull the law enforcement rabbit from the hat each month.

We were notified this past week that our MODOT traffic safety grant has been severely cut in mid grant year due to a shortfall in federal funds that MODOT received to pay for the grants. We went from $12,486.00 to $9,486.00 in the blink of an eye on an approved contract that we have been working on since October of 2009. The good news is that we had not yet reached the $9,000.00 overtime mark so we are not in danger of overspending on the grant. Still a 25% reduction of funding will impact our overtime traffic safety work in a big way.

Along the same lines our efforts to take part in the MODOT Click it or Ticket special statewide seatbelt enforcement day on Thursday the 25^th hit a big snag when we had three overdose calls on the day shift. Not sure how the night shift went but the day crew did not make many traffic stops that day. We should have a few numbers to report and that will put us in line for the usual slim chance of winning free equipment in the MODOT drawing for equipment that is held after each special operation day. And it will keep us in the running for the required 100% compliance rate of working on each of the seven special enforcement projects. Those agencies who take part in all seven projects are entered into a special drawing for a brand new and fully equipped police vehicle. If I remember correctly last year it was a Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and it was won by the Carthage Missouri Police Department. I think you all know we could use such a winning draw.

This past week Deputy Jimmy Bench went to an address on Tampa Road outside of St. Robert to check on the welfare of a person and was attacked by two very large Great Dane dogs. Jimmy was pinned to the living room floor by the attack and was lucky to be able to deploy his pepper spray at the dogs and drive them off. He will be off duty on medical leave for the next several days. Many people have asked if the dogs were “put down” and my answer is no. However we have received information that Jimmy is the second person to be mauled by these dogs and we are looking into the situation to see if further action is needed.

This past week we had a special meeting with the supervisors of the DFS Children’s Division to discuss our joint enforcement efforts on hotline calls. Both DFS and the Sheriff’s Office have suffered deep budget cuts and both have a series of new employees to train. Between us we had more than enough problems to go around. I do believe we were able to work out most of the immediate problems and we are gathering research information on several others. Unless you listen to a scanner 24/7 you probably have no clue just how many DFS calls we respond to each year. One of these days I should probably post some of the DFS call numbers that we respond to each month.

I would love to give you an update on the status of the DEA’s work on the big Waynesville City Police drug seizure but the public information officer for the DEA has not returned my call yet. So no news update from me on this topic.

I currently have my fingers crossed because I have located a 2006 Ford Interceptor police vehicle with 81,000 miles for $4,795.00 from a dealer who is out of this area. He does not have the car in his possession yet but he tells me that due to my very prompt inquiry that I will get the first shot at the car when it hits his lot. In 2010 I hope to remove every car older than a 2003 model from our fleet. The maintenance on the 2000 and 2001 year models is killing us right now.

In the past two weeks we have lost two members of the jail staff and one dispatcher. The only unusual part of this story is that only one person is leaving to take a higher paying job. The other two employees had special personal reasons for leaving us and I will not disclose those reasons.

Once again I have reached the end of a column. I would ask that you all drive with care to help prevent those nasty traffic crashes. I would also ask that you keep your actions legal because we do not want you in our jail. We cannot afford to have you in our jail but if you must visit the jail lights are bright.

Valor7 · « **Reply #912 on:** March 06, 2010, 02:16:37 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #11 for the week of March 8 through 12, 2010.

Welcome aboard on a great day in the Ozark highlands. A lot of sun, the temp is mild and even better the temperature numbers that are headed our way are looking good. This message was not brought to you by the National Weather Service. But the weather will in fact be our first topic of the day.

This past week the National Weather Service Springfield, Missouri, office sent an instructor to Waynesville to teach the annual weather spotter class. For the most part our brothers in the fire service were the main folks who attended the class. There were a number of law enforcement officers in the room from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office and the Crocker City Police. The topic of severe weather and tornadoes can get a bit complex and once again we went through the types of storms, wind shear, and a host of other topics that we viewed from the perceptive of the National Weather Service. After all the class was designed to teach us what the weather service needs to hear in order to accurately predict the severe weather and issue tornado warnings and so forth. I suspect there may be more public information on this class released in the near future because the Daily Guide Editor was seated next to me and DawnDee was recording a bunch of notes on this class.

While we are on the topic of tornadoes I think my office got hit by one this past week. All week long it was the cell phone in one ear, office phone in the other ear. One person seated in front of me and one more knocking on the door. Meanwhile I was late for a meeting and five e-mails were waiting for a response. If by chance you tried to contact me or did contact me this past week and I did not respond back then please try again because I am sure I have forgotten all about your call. It was a hectic week and I hope next week in much calmer.

On Monday of this past week I drove to Springfield, Missouri, to meet with officials from MODOT to go over the 2011 year grant applications. They were not sure if the recent cutback in federal traffic safety money that forced the reduction in our current grant would continue to be a problem for the future grants. Their message was to apply for the grants as you usually would and they would cross the funding bridge when that time arrives. In short who knows for sure but there should be some money for equipment and overtime traffic work in the future.

After the MODOT meeting I went to the Springfield DEA office and delivered some reports to them on a recent case. We had a discussion on some other issues and after a short period of time I left the DEA office. I then went to the office of our attorney, who has been assigned to us by our county insurance carrier to discuss a lawsuit case. The issue with the lawsuit had suddenly jumped up and I arrived at the office without an appointment. With our present attorney the lack of an appointment is not a big deal he will work me in as soon as he can and take care of business. The big question is whether or not he is in the office that day. If he is not there then of course you do not see him. But since I was already in Springfield the extra drive to his office was a good gamble. And it was a winning gamble because he was there and after a short wait we took care of business.

On Wednesday the Board of Directors of the Pulaski County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund once again came to my rescue with a $3,000.00 check to assist me in the purchase of another patrol car. We were able to buy a 2006 Ford with 81,000 miles for only $4,910.00. The salesman was unhappy that he had to point out that the car had body damage to the rear bumper and large paint chips missing on the rear truck lid area. He told me he would send me photographs of the damage and if I needed to pass on the car due to the damage he understood. After looking at the photographs Tom and I had a small laugh because the damage looked exactly the same as the damage on at least four of our current patrol cars parked in front of the office right now. The biggest paint spot was about the size of a large orange and was located on the passenger side rear of the car right above the upper side of the trunk lid. The Ford Company must have had a paint problem with their cars because we have several other cars with the same orange size spot in the same location. In any event a 2006 Ford Interceptor with only 81,000 miles for under $5,000!!! I hope I can find a few more of these cars.

Our current calls for service/case number count stands at 1,551 today. Our jail list had 50 names on the roster. The good news is that we are only spending $700.00 of our tax dollars today for inmate board outside of Pulaski County. And speaking of jails on March 22, 2010, at 9:30am there will be a presentation to the Pulaski County Commission by the GS&M Company on our future ability to build a 124 bed jail with or without a tax increase. This presentation is designed to simply supply information to the Commission about the several ways that a jail could be built. In any event the meeting is open to the public and you are invited to attend. There will be a media briefing session after the Commission presentation.

Once again it is time to tell you to drive safe and to stay legal because we do not want your body in our jail. But if your life’s ambition is to spend a few days in the Pulaski County Jail then come on down and enjoy the bright lights in our jail!

Zestar Corporation · « **Reply #913 on:** March 12, 2010, 05:56:17 PM »

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certain 2006 - 2008 vehicle models. They have released a Customer Satisfaction Program
concerning the repainting of those vehicles.

Durability issues continue to arise from 26 states with models produced during 2001 - 2005.

darrellmaurina · « **Reply #914 on:** March 13, 2010, 09:44:55 AM »

And now we have positive proof that Google search engines mean that what's posted on the Pulaski County Web or Pulaski County Daily News comes to the attention of people in corporate offices...

Looks like Sheriff King may want to have a talk with his car dealers about a possible repainting job.

Valor7 · « **Reply #915 on:** March 13, 2010, 11:14:20 AM »

The Sheriff’s View #12 for the week of March 15 through 19, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the deputies of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. It is a dull and dark day with light rain falling on our heads. I may have the minority opinion here but I am ready for some full size sunshine for many days in a row. Is that too much to ask for?

Once again I am not sure where to start for today. It might be more accurate to say I do not want to start today, I want to relax today. But the word column appears in the dictionary before the word relax so we might as well get started.

The meeting on the new jail study set for March 22, 2010, in front of the Pulaski County Commission has been the subject of a time change. The meeting will now start at 10:30am and the folks who will present the information have promised to cut down on the total time needed to present the study. I have had several questions about this meeting so I will make a few statements that are designed to answer those questions.

The meeting is open to the public if you want to attend. Once the presentation is over Mr. Goldberg has told me he will answer questions from the media so we will put on a mini press conference after the Commission meeting. This was a hard decision for me, fund the study or buy another car. I have funded the study from my civil fee fund and there will be no additional cost. The Commission does not have to make any decisions on March 22^nd and in fact I would not expect them to do so this early in the production process.

The study will attempt to answer a host of questions mainly from a financial or tax point of view. The current funding of the jail and future needs will be addressed. The basic proposal will be for a 124 bed jail with a design that would allow a future wing of 92 beds to be added to the new structure at a later date. We are talking a complete and ready to go jail with all equipment already installed. In short open the door and walk the inmates into the jail.

I will tell you that there are a large number of issues to consider with the construction of a new jail. A new jail is not a simple project to fund or to build. The time factor will stretch for two full years from start to finish. And there will be costs to consider beyond the jail such as the necessary salary for the additional jail staff that will be needed. So there will be a lot of ground to cover at the meeting and if you want the information you may attend.

In the other news department I have bad news to pass on to you. As you may recall Deputy Jimmy Bench was mauled by two very large Great Dane dogs back in February. Deputy Bench has given me permission to announce that he will have surgery on his leg next week to correct the damage done by the dogs. The big problem is that the wounds are not healing and they will have to open up the leg to take corrective action. At this time it appears that Jimmy will be off work for some time to come. As our county has grown over the past several years the danger to our deputies has also grown. We have had deputies on medical leave due to car wrecks, physical assaults, bullet wounds and now a dog attack. We have developed into an urban officer risk area and we are no longer the quiet rural community that many of you remember. Unfortunately due to budget shortfalls we continue to send our deputies into high risk situations without proper backup. As long as we do that we can expect to read about injured deputies. Our prayer will be that we never read about a deceased Pulaski County deputy in the line of duty.

The case number/call for service count today stands at 1,772 as of 7:00am on the 13^th. In looking back at column number twelve for 2009 I find that I did not record the calls for service number in that column so I cannot compare our current numbers to last year. I sense that we are ahead of the game for this year and will continue to be ahead for the rest of the year.

In other news I would like to announce that Officer Gwen Miles of the Waynesville City Police will be joining our department on March 14, 2010. Gwen made the decision to leave Waynesville some time back and she came out in the top position of our selection process. We look forward to seeing her in a brown uniform instead of a blue uniform.

I believe that wraps it up for this week and as such once again I will ask that you drive with care. I will also ask that you keep your actions legal. We do not want you or have room for you nor can we afford to have you in our current jail. So stay away from the jail but if you simply must visit us you will find that the lights are on.

Zestar Corporation · « **Reply #916 on:** March 13, 2010, 12:42:46 PM »

We were contacted by another Sheriff Department today that were reimburse by Ford in
having their cars repainted.

They provided the steps they took to have their vehicles repainted:
Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02 (FSA 09N02) applies to CVPIs with Vibrant White
and Performance White paint that peels. Police departments experiencing this problem should contact
their advisor at Ford Fleet to open a claim, pictures will be taken at a Ford dealership to confirm, and
the department has their choice of having their cars repainted by Ford or having it done elsewhere
and getting fleet credit.

If any additional information is required, please feel free to contact us. We do have another reference to
a site where it was stated that repainting was done on a Crown Victoria that were not directly
covered by Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02.

okie the thread killer · « **Reply #917 on:** March 13, 2010, 12:52:04 PM »

Quote from: Zestar Corporation on March 13, 2010, 12:42:46 PM

We were contacted by another Sheriff Department today that were reimburse by Ford in
having their cars repainted.

They provided the steps they took to have their vehicles repainted:
Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02 (FSA 09N02) applies to CVPIs with Vibrant White
and Performance White paint that peels. Police departments experiencing this problem should contact
their advisor at Ford Fleet to open a claim, pictures will be taken at a Ford dealership to confirm, and
the department has their choice of having their cars repainted by Ford or having it done elsewhere
and getting fleet credit.

If any additional information is required, please feel free to contact us. We do have another reference to
a site where it was stated that repainting was done on a Crown Victoria that were not directly
covered by Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02.

Awesome!!

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #918 on:** March 13, 2010, 11:59:32 PM »

Quote from: Zestar Corporation on March 13, 2010, 12:42:46 PM

We were contacted by another Sheriff Department today that were reimburse by Ford in
having their cars repainted.

They provided the steps they took to have their vehicles repainted:
Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02 (FSA 09N02) applies to CVPIs with Vibrant White
and Performance White paint that peels. Police departments experiencing this problem should contact
their advisor at Ford Fleet to open a claim, pictures will be taken at a Ford dealership to confirm, and
the department has their choice of having their cars repainted by Ford or having it done elsewhere
and getting fleet credit.

If any additional information is required, please feel free to contact us. We do have another reference to
a site where it was stated that repainting was done on a Crown Victoria that were not directly
covered by Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02.

Do you know if this applies only to police patrol vehicles or all white Crown Vics?

Zestar Corporation · « **Reply #919 on:** March 15, 2010, 08:44:00 AM »

Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02 referes only to Police Interceptors.
However, on another site a customer was experiencing paint peeling on a
regular Crown Victoria. We mentioned this program to see if it was expanded
to include her vehicle. The dealership did agree to repaint the vehicle.

Refer to the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=94328817418

Refer to the following posts:
12/30/09 and 12/29/09 that discusses the 2007 Crown Victoria.

Good Luck!

We have contacted Ford's Senior Management on this issue.

We are advocating a "Truth in Finish Disclosure" to prevent factory
defects being released to the automaker, auto dealer and consumer.

Valor7 · « **Reply #920 on:** March 15, 2010, 08:59:53 AM »

Quote from: Zestar Corporation on March 15, 2010, 08:44:00 AM

Ford's Customer Satisfaction Program 09N02 referes only to Police Interceptors.
However, on another site a customer was experiencing paint peeling on a
regular Crown Victoria. We mentioned this program to see if it was expanded
to include her vehicle. The dealership did agree to repaint the vehicle.

Refer to the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=94328817418

Refer to the following posts:
12/30/09 and 12/29/09 that discusses the 2007 Crown Victoria.

Good Luck!

We have contacted Ford's Senior Management on this issue.

We are advocating a "Truth in Finish Disclosure" to prevent factory
defects being released to the automaker, auto dealer and consumer.

Thank You. We are contacting Ford Motor Company to see what they will do for us on this issue.

Sheriff J. B. King

davethegreat · « **Reply #921 on:** March 18, 2010, 03:26:12 PM »

Here is the new Ford Police Interceptor...

Quote

Ford Police InterceptorThe next time you’re pulled over for speeding, you might be surprised by what you see in the rearview. Ford recently unveiled its replacement for the Crown-Victoria-based Police Interceptor -- and it’s a Taurus.

“Ford first introduced its police package in 1950 and today the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor is the industry leader,” explains Jalopnik. “The automaker's dominated the streets to the point that over the last five years, Ford's controlled more than 70% of the patrol cars sold. … Unfortunately, the Crown Vic's Panther-platform's getting a little long in the tooth — it hasn't seen a redesign in over 15 years.”

There is more to the story here...

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1363/ford-introduces-new-taurus-based-police-car/

I like it.

Valor7 · « **Reply #922 on:** March 20, 2010, 09:36:46 AM »

The paint recall only works for the first four years and only for the first owner of the CVPI. Thumbs down for PCSD.

JB

Valor7 · « **Reply #923 on:** March 21, 2010, 10:32:55 AM »

The Sheriff’s View #13 for the week of March 22 through 26, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time as we once again face a cold wet weekend. But we did not get any snow and there appears to have been a lot of that dumped on the ground over the past 24 hours so I guess we cannot gripe too much. I do seem to recall in last week’s column that I mentioned the need for lots of sunshine and warm temp’s for an extended period of time. I think I will stand by those words this week and who know maybe someday we will see such conditions.

Once again I am not sure where to start for this column. Even worse right now I am very short on material for this column. I may have to jump on the soapbox once again and comment on issues that affect the Sheriff’s office. In a way I hate to do this but many readers have told me they enjoy the exposure to some of our problems as it gives that a much better understanding of the Sheriff’s office. And then again some of my readers have told me they hate it when I jump on the soapbox, they want hard news.

We have a bit of good news to report. It appears that the doctor will release Deputy Jimmy Bench back to full duty sometime next week. In his last visit to have the stitches removed the doctor told him that the injury was looking good after the surgery and there would not be any lasting ill effects due to the wound. He also told Jimmy he would give him a full fit to return to duty statement next week. We can hardly wait and I know Jimmy is eager to get back to work. Some men are born to be lazy but Jimmy is not included in that group of men.

In other news the members of the Pulaski County Commission are scheduled to hear a presentation on the building of a new jail on Monday March 22 at 10:30am. The presentation had first been set for 9:30am but the person who will present the study must drive down from the northern part of the state and he requested more drive time. The meeting is open to the public. I have already covered several points about this meeting in prior columns but maybe I should once again cover a few points.

The plan that Mr. Goldberg has drawn up presents a 124 bed jail with a 92 bed wing ready to be added at a later date for future growth. The jail will be built to federal standards so that we could house federal inmates in order to supply us with a cash income from the jail. Right now Mr. Goldberg has drawn the base plan two ways. One would be for a vertical jail set on a smaller piece of ground and the other a single level jail on several acres of land. Over the past few years every jail building company representative that I have talked to usually say that a vertical jail is a last resort. Many of my fellow sheriff’s say the same thing.

I believe that Mr. Goldberg has designed and helped build around 160 jails so I think he knows a few things about this issue. But in fairness to the other jail building companies I could make about three telephone calls and have three other jail building companies drop in for a visit with the commissioners. Bluntly said if we decide to build a jail there will be plenty of people out there to choose from to build our jail. And even more bluntly said if we are going to spend around ten million dollars to build a jail we need to get the best design, the best company, the best land, the best of everything for our money.

As I said in another column there are other money issues that will come up when you build a jail and this would be a very complex issue for the Pulaski County Commission to undertake over a period of several years. A lot of effort would be needed to start a new jail and bring the project to a successful completion. It is my view that this is a project that is long overdue and for the good of Pulaski County we must launch this effort soon.

Our calls for service/case number count for Sunday March 21, 2010, at 9:00am stands at 2,051 for the year. Once again I failed to include the calls for service number in last year’s column number thirteen so I cannot offer any comparison here today.

At this time all of our cars are up and running and our newest car is now in service. I am looking for more vehicles to purchase but we must first earn some more money so I can purchase a vehicle. I believe that we are the only sheriff’s office in the state of Missouri who has to work for the money we use to supply our deputies with the finest 100,000 mile used cars that money can buy.

One again it is time to close out the rambling for today. Please stay away from our jail we are trying to keep the expense for the year down but if you just have to visit us you will be impressed by the bright lights.

Valor7 · « **Reply #924 on:** March 27, 2010, 01:03:45 PM »

The Sheriff’s View #14 for the week of March 29 through April 2, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. We have good news today. On April 1, 2010, the DEA will award the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office $733,000.00 in cash from a drug investigation that we assisted with in 2009. The money may be used for police vehicles, equipment, and drug investigation overtime expenses. At long last we will have the money to be able to have a decent vehicle fleet for our deputies. The members of the department are very excited over this news.

April fool! Don’t believe everything you see in print. The date given above was April 1, 2010, and this was a joke from the first word. But in real life a DEA drug forfeit would be a nice bit of news. The reason that I brought this topic up for the column was that I just finished sending in our amended 2009 forfeiture report to the feds. I had filed it on time but I had failed to include a forfeit that we did receive in 2009 and had to redo the report to account for the purchases we made with the forfeiture money.

I will admit that the large amount of money I listed in the first paragraph would be a real dream if we could get such a large DEA drug forfeiture but that is not very likely to occur. However at this time we are on the paper trail for a possible forfeit in at least two cases we helped the DEA with in 2009. It takes time to run these cases through the federal system to get to the point where the forfeit will take place. Neither of these cases would generate a very large amount of money but we can use every drug dime we can get. It would give me great pleasure to know that one of our new used cars was “purchased” for us by a drug dealer, especially a former Pulaski County drug dealer who is on “vacation” in one of Uncle Sam’s best federal hotels. And before anyone asks the DEA cases were and still are active criminal investigations and there will be no further comment.

I have not reported on the vehicle front for some time but I believe that all of our cars are up and running right now. I would say that Tom (Major Tom Cristoffer our Fleet Manager) is loafing this week but I know he is working on getting one of our older cars back in shape to become a backup car. Once he gets that car done he will take one of the current backup cars off line and strip it out. One of these days we will need to have a vehicle auction to get rid of a number of cars. I believe I mentioned in a previous column that one of my goals for this year was to remove any car older than 2003 from our fleet. The better shape that our fleet is in the fewer times a deputy on duty will be towed back to town by a wrecker. The less money we will spend on gas and routine maintenance of the vehicle. Those transmission and engine repairs eat the budget up real quick.

I am behind on the latest drug news. I know we got another partial mobile meth lab this week but I did not get the time to ask the right questions. I also know the drug troops had another operation planned for Friday night and I do not yet know if they did any good on that case. Hopefully I will get a chance to complete a few news releases soon.

On Monday of this week we presented the new jail study to the Commissioners. Our local media have carried the story in a fair amount of detail and I am not sure I should say much here. I do want to thank the Commissioners for the open minded way they examined the study. I think both the Sheriff and the Commissioners are of the same basic opinion that we do need a new jail, but that sure is a pile of tax expense money to worry about. If we are successful in launching a new jail it will only be after a few dozen meeting’s to hammer out the details of the project.

Once again I am at the requested word count. I would again ask that you all drive with care and keep your actions legal. We do not want or need your body in our jail but if you must visit us be assured that the jail lights work just fine. The light bulb still burns.

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #925 on:** March 27, 2010, 03:45:44 PM »

Not to make you feel bad boss but I got to see the new Vernon County Sheriff's Office and Jail this week. (business folks!

) I didn't ask if used a tax to build it but wow...very nice. It is a huge improvement over their old facilities.

okie the thread killer · « **Reply #926 on:** March 27, 2010, 04:32:44 PM »

Quote from: Valor7 on March 27, 2010, 01:03:45 PM

The Sheriff’s View #14 for the week of March 29 through April 2, 2010.

Welcome aboard one more time for another trip around Pulaski County with the employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. We have good news today. On April 1, 2010, the DEA will award the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office $733,000.00 in cash from a drug investigation that we assisted with in 2009. The money may be used for police vehicles, equipment, and drug investigation overtime expenses. At long last we will have the money to be able to have a decent vehicle fleet for our deputies. The members of the department are very excited over this news.

April fool! Don’t believe everything you see in print. The date given above was April 1, 2010, and this was a joke from the first word. But in real life a DEA drug forfeit would be a nice bit of news. The reason that I brought this topic up for the column was that I just finished sending in our amended 2009 forfeiture report to the feds. I had filed it on time but I had failed to include a forfeit that we did receive in 2009 and had to redo the report to account for the purchases we made with the forfeiture money.

I will admit that the large amount of money I listed in the first paragraph would be a real dream if we could get such a large DEA drug forfeiture but that is not very likely to occur. However at this time we are on the paper trail for a possible forfeit in at least two cases we helped the DEA with in 2009. It takes time to run these cases through the federal system to get to the point where the forfeit will take place. Neither of these cases would generate a very large amount of money but we can use every drug dime we can get. It would give me great pleasure to know that one of our new used cars was “purchased” for us by a drug dealer, especially a former Pulaski County drug dealer who is on “vacation” in one of Uncle Sam’s best federal hotels. And before anyone asks the DEA cases were and still are active criminal investigations and there will be no further comment.

I have not reported on the vehicle front for some time but I believe that all of our cars are up and running right now. I would say that Tom (Major Tom Cristoffer our Fleet Manager) is loafing this week but I know he is working on getting one of our older cars back in shape to become a backup car. Once he gets that car done he will take one of the current backup cars off line and strip it out. One of these days we will need to have a vehicle auction to get rid of a number of cars. I believe I mentioned in a previous column that one of my goals for this year was to remove any car older than 2003 from our fleet. The better shape that our fleet is in the fewer times a deputy on duty will be towed back to town by a wrecker. The less money we will spend on gas and routine maintenance of the vehicle. Those transmission and engine repairs eat the budget up real quick.

I am behind on the latest drug news. I know we got another partial mobile meth lab this week but I did not get the time to ask the right questions. I also know the drug troops had another operation planned for Friday night and I do not yet know if they did any good on that case. Hopefully I will get a chance to complete a few news releases soon.

On Monday of this week we presented the new jail study to the Commissioners. Our local media have carried the story in a fair amount of detail and I am not sure I should say much here. I do want to thank the Commissioners for the open minded way they examined the study. I think both the Sheriff and the Commissioners are of the same basic opinion that we do need a new jail, but that sure is a pile of tax expense money to worry about. If we are successful in launching a new jail it will only be after a few dozen meeting’s to hammer out the details of the project.

Once again I am at the requested word count. I would again ask that you all drive with care and keep your actions legal. We do not want or need your body in our jail but if you must visit us be assured that the jail lights work just fine. The light bulb still burns.

gotta tell you JB, you had me going there for a minute....good joke, but damn

Valor7 · « **Reply #927 on:** March 27, 2010, 09:10:03 PM »

Hey a fellow has got to have a little fun once in a while!

JB

Valor7 · « **Reply #928 on:** March 29, 2010, 06:35:24 PM »

Quote from: Yankee Trader on March 27, 2010, 03:45:44 PM

Not to make you feel bad boss but I got to see the new Vernon County Sheriff's Office and Jail this week. (business folks! ) I didn't ask if used a tax to build it but wow...very nice. It is a huge improvement over their old facilities.

Yup, we used it as an example during our meet with the Commissioners. Cost of $7,750,000.00 to build and 86 beds. Larry said it could now be built for about $1.3 million less due to economy. Since our average expense in inmate board over the last 9 years is $319,770.00 I think we could get it done.

JB

Yankee Trader · « **Reply #929 on:** March 30, 2010, 08:49:02 AM »

Quote from: Valor7 on March 29, 2010, 06:35:24 PM

Yup, we used it as an example during our meet with the Commissioners. Cost of $7,750,000.00 to build and 86 beds. Larry said it could now be built for about $1.3 million less due to economy. Since our average expense in inmate board over the last 9 years is $319,770.00 I think we could get it done.

JB

That is a first class facility. It is built on land out on the edge of the city away from everything. Looked pretty roomy too from what I saw. I took a pic but just with my cell so I could tease 344 since he got his start in Vernon Cty. lol Doesn't show the entire facility. Next time I go by I will take my camera and post a good pic for everyone to see what they can get for their money.

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