Sheriff's office dispatches 5,000 calls
BY JAMES CAMPBELL SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR

JAMES CAMPBELL

This year has been a very busy one for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. Law enforcement is one business that the economy has very little to do with our volume of work.

Our communications department is one of the busiest divisions of this office. We have two 911 lines and dispatch for every law enforcement agency and fire department in the county with the exception of the city of Jacksonville. This includes city, county and state agencies. By year's end our communication department will have received about 10,000 calls and will have dispatched almost 5,000 calls to our deputies. We also will have received more than 4,000 911 calls and will have dispatched deputies to 500 loose livestock calls and 500 residential and business alarm calls.

Our reserve officers have worked more than 1,900 hours for the county. These officers receive no pay and buy their own uniforms. They provide a valuable service for this department and our citizens. These officers are fully certified and are capable of performing any task our full time officers do. When we have a shortage of manpower we call on the reserves and they always step up to the plate to assist us and I feel fortunate to have these officers with us.

Our largest expenditure and the division that has the largest number of employees is our county jail. We are fortunate that the commissioner's court and county judge started the jail expansion more than four years ago. We are in good shape with our population and jail staff. We usually keep about 45 empty beds and this includes housing about 20 inmates for the City of Tyler. Cherokee County has received more than $100,000 from Tyler for housing these inmates this year. Nearly every surrounding county is overcrowded in their jails and are in the process of building or expanding. I can't predict the future but I believe that this county should be in compliance with our jail population for many years to come. However, TDCJ has not built a new facility for several years and I don't know if they are going to build any in the near future.

Citizens don't like their tax dollars being spent on housing inmates but they don't like criminals walking the streets. I can say that we operate the jail as efficiently as possible but there are many state mandates that deal with the care and housing of any inmate. Preparing more than 400 meals per day and housing inmates 24 hours per can be expensive. Profits made from our jail commissary and inmate phone system generate several thousand dollars per year and this money is spent on inmate blankets, mattresses, pillows, and uniforms.

Our civil department handles more than 4,000 civil papers per year and generates more than $170,000 for the county each year. I have one full time civil officer and all of the deputies serve them as well.

Sergeant Robin Parsons is the Cherokee County DARE officer. Sgt. Parsons presents the DARE program to all schools in this county. This includes Jacksonville, New Summerfield, Rusk, Alto and Wells ISD students. This program is well received at all the county schools. I attend all of the DARE graduations each year and see firsthand how the students respond to the program. The students, parents and teachers like the program and I believe it is well worth our effort to keep it going. Local organizations and individuals faithfully donate money to this program each year and we appreciate all the support we receive. I can think of nothing more important than making every effort to keep our kids off drugs and it can only be done with the work of the public and law enforcement.

I want to thank Cherokee County Sheriff's Departments first DARE officer, Tom Haddock, for laying the groundwork for many years so this program is still a respected and effective anti-drug program for our children.

All our commissioned officers work the drug problem and I have one full time drug officer that works drug activity only. CCSO made 169 drug arrests in the first 10 months of this year. We hope to have made a total of nearly 200 by year's end. Drug activity is a major problem here and everywhere. We adopted a zero tolerance years ago and will continue to do so. Along with the arrests CCSO seized several vehicles and thousands of dollars in cash related to drug activity. We want to make more drug arrests and seize more property and cash from drug dealers in the coming year.

Our detectives and patrol deputies have worked very hard this year serving the citizens of Cherokee County. Our 14 patrol deputies cover a 1,050 square mile area 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. By year's end this department will have driven 600,000 miles. Sometimes we are spread thin but it helps having deputies live in all areas of the county so it will cut down on response time. Our detectives have a large caseload. They investigate all felonies and many Class A and B misdemeanors. Two of the investigators specialize in crimes against children; one in identity theft and one register sex-offenders each month. Although these specialize in these particular areas, all investigators investigate all major crimes. The first 10 months of 2006 we have had an intake of 1,504 cases or reports.

We are charged with the transportation of juveniles to and from juvenile detention facilities, all of which are out of county. As of November first, CCSO has transported 300 juveniles.

I am very proud of the employees of the department. They work very hard serving and protecting the citizens of Cherokee County. We are looking forward to doing even more in 2007.

James Campbell is Cherokee County Sheriff