Sheriff's Office Consolidates Units

   Chief Investigator Bo Jolly

   Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." There is a lot of truth in that statement. As Sheriff it is my goal to provide law enforcements services to best meet the needs of the public we serve in the most efficient way.  We have made some changes at the Sheriff's Office that is already showing positive results. If you subscribe to our jail roster notification, you have probably noticed a marked increase of arrests for theft and drug related offenses. This is good, and I think we can do even better.  

   Like a lot of law enforcement agencies, we have been operating separate investigative and narcotics units. Statistics show the majority of burglary and theft crimes are related to illegal drugs. It only makes sense these units should be working together. However, a lack of communication and coordination of efforts and a high turnover rate of narcotics officers seems to be a problem. Therefore, I made the decision to combine our narcotics and criminal investigations unit and place them under the supervision of Chief Investigator Bo Jolly.  

   The consolidation of units is not to diminish our focus in fighting crimes related to illegal drugs. Just the opposite, we are doubling down our efforts. In addition, we have purchased a narcotics detection trained K-9, and Deputy Michael Green will be training with him soon.

   Over the past few months, we have been remodeling a building on the former Centre Municipal Airport property with additional office space and a large meeting room to conduct Sheriff's Office training programs. We expect to be moving a team of investigators into the new offices with the next month. This will provide a more professional work environment and hopefully improve communications between officers.

   The nature of working in the field of narcotics causes a high turnover rate in employees. Time spent on new trainees decreases time spent investigating crimes. Combining units will in effect double the manpower resources to fight the overall crimes we seek to reduce. Sharing a variety of responsibilities will hopefully reduce stress on the officers.

   The time was right to try a different approach. We expect to have good and consistent results with these changes.