Sheriff’s
Update Article – November 2009
As I sit here after a beautiful Thanksgiving Day and reflect thanks on the past
year and contemplate 2010 I am very thankful for the community that we all live
in and the great people that are willing to help this community unite for the
benefit of all citizens. Some of the accomplishments at the Sheriff’s Office
that I believe help in that community goal are listed below.
The inmate work gang finished up for the year in late October and they collected
24,256 lbs of trash and 245 lbs of old tires from the sides of the roads within
our county. This program will definitely continue next year as it has for the
past four years and Lt Worcester is working with staff on how we can lengthen
the dates that the work gang can be out in the community picking up trash as
well as assisting with the County Fair, Ag Expo, Teen Maze, Ute Rodeo and other
public events.
The Detention center is also working on updating the control panel in the
control room which has finally worn out. This panel and work area is responsible
for operating all of the important electrical and mechanical functions within
the jail including all the doors, cameras and communication systems. The control
room is the center of all functions with the detention center and it is manned
24 hours per day 365 days per year.
We are also implementing the new Victim Information & Notification Everyday
(VINE) program that will be in place before the end of this year. This program
which is now being utilized statewide has been funded by the legislature and
other outside donors. VINE’s purpose is to automate the notification of victims
of crimes that have been previously advised by a manual notification process
when a crime met specific thresholds. The VINE program is very interactive and
gives the victim of crime a much higher level of participation without missing a
notification, for example a victim of domestic violence would be notified when a
suspect is released from jail either on bond or by the court. It has been very
well received by the other Sheriff’s Offices across the states that are using
this program and we are in the 2nd phase of the roll out which allowed other
agencies to fully test the system prior to implementation. The training for the
detention deputies occurred last month and we are awaiting the completion of the
control panel before switching the program over. For more information on VINE
you can log onto www.vinelink.com.
Three new employees for the Detention Center screening program which is funded
by a Federal grant will be in place before the end of the year and my hope is
that we will be able to reduce the recidivism of repeat inmates thereby reducing
the need to increase the size of the jail which would incur a cost of
approximately 5 million dollars to the county. The jail which has a capacity of
104 inmates is at 100% to 115% capacity everyday so any program we can implement
which will help us save those costs to the county needs to be seriously vetted;
and I believe this program has great potential to do this with relatively low
cost to the county.
We are also working on adding a communication system that will provide emergency
responders with communication up along the Dolores river valley, where there is
currently very poor service. To add a digital 800 MHz tower in this area would
cost between $750,000 and $1 million and that is cost prohibitive given that the
state has reduced its grant programs for these towers. Three repeaters have
already been procured at a cost of $5,000 each and the County Emergency Manager
is working closely with the city of Cortez and others to get everything put in
place utilizing existing towers and buildings which will further reduce the
infrastructure cost. My estimate is that the total cost for this project will be
less than $50,000 and will not require any dollars come from the county general
fund. An added advantage is that this will also allow emergency responders
within the county to still have communication if the current 800 MHz system were
ever to temporarily go down for whatever reason. The analogue system works
separately to the digital system but allows the use of the current radios that
all emergency responders carry, all they would have to do is switch to a
different talk group on their radios and still be in communication with the
dispatch center and other responders.
In the patrol division which is in part funded by the Law Enforcement Authority
(LEA) the deputies will see an increase in pay to help them get closer to
meeting the mid state level pay range for certified deputies. This is possible
because the projection of LEA funds to be collected in 2010 has increased and
keeping the deputies within this pay range will help us compete with other
agencies that we were losing deputies to this past year. Over the past 5 months
we were averaging 5 to 6 vacancies in the patrol division which is approximately
18% to 21% of our certified staff. Since the LEA board approved the increases
effective January 1st we have been able to secure two more deputies that had
turned us down on our job offers, due to our 2009 remuneration package. It is
important to note that none of these dollars are coming out of the county
general fund and that the increase was one of the top two priorities when the
LEA was passed by voters in 2007.
Effective December 1st the new cell phone bill will become law which means that
anyone under the age of 18 cannot use a cell phone while driving and no motorist
may text or email while driving. The legislature has deemed this a primary
offense which means no other violation needs to be present when a traffic stop
is made for this violation. My deputies will be contacting motorists who are in
violation of this offense but they will only be issuing warnings upon first
contact for a period of 6 weeks, while everyone becomes accustomed to this
change. I am not a supporter of new laws always being adopted as I believe we
already have too many on the books however this law is needed in order to help
save injury and death due to the inattention of other drivers on the roadway.
For more information you can log onto
www.drivinglaws.org/colorado/php
In summary with few exceptions I am happy with what we have achieved in 2009 and
my staff and I are very appreciative this Thanksgiving day to the community, the
commissioners and their staff, and everyone who has assisted in making 2009 a
very good year.
Thank you
Gerald Wallace - Sheriff
Contact Information
To reach the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office please respond to the information below. If you have an emergency situation, please call 911 for help.
- Telephone
- 970-565-8452
- FAX
- Jail - 970-565-4348
- Admin - 970-565-3731
- Postal address
- 730 E Driscoll Street
- Cortez, CO 81321
- Electronic mail
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