BEDFORD – Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day told the commissioners Tuesday morning he is actively addressing staffing shortages at the Lawrence County Jail and Central Dispatch.
In the jail, the department is currently short two male jailers and three female matrons.
“We were supposed to have 23 come in for testing but only three showed up,” added Day.
In central dispatch, the department has five vacancies.
“We will have two hired by the end of the week and three more are coming in for interviews and testing,” added Day. “We are hanging in there. It takes time to get them tested and interviewed. We are currently using two road officers and our animal control officer to fill those vacancies. All three were dispatchers before hitting the road as officers. This is difficult because our animal control officer takes the most calls. My goal is to have all the positions filled and trained by the middle of April.”
There is also an opening for a merit officer.
“We currently have three in training, one will leave for the military in February, which leaves us currently short by four or five,” added Day.
Day also addressed security issues at the courthouse.
“We would like to move the security station closer to the entrance of the courthouse doors,” said Day. “We would also like to move the human resource office to the basement area because currently it is before the security station and that is a safety concern.”
The office will move to the former CASA office located in the basement. The department will then move its security camera monitoring systems into the former human resources office.
Security Officer Sgt. Larry Reed Jr. will be taking a new administration position at the Sheriff’s Department. He will be handling the sex and violent offender registry and Project Lifesaver along with other administrative duties. The department will be hiring someone to replace Reed. Day hopes to have that position filled by the end of the month.
“We continue to be more proactive and transparent,” Day said.
He is also addressing some pricing issues on the inmate commissary, as Day said he feels some of the items are priced a little high.
Jail numbers are “creeping upward,” according to Day.
Day reported there were 95 inmates in the jail as of Tuesday morning. Of those 74 were males, 21 were females, eight were Level 6 offenders, six were Department of Correction holds and there were no parole holds.
Chief Public Defender Tim Sledd reported to the commissioners the jail population has increased due to the number of petitions to revoke arrests.
“I keep my finger on the jail count,” added Sledd. “Me, the prosecutor, and the judges are working on getting those inmates out as quickly as possible. Those inmates are held without bond because it is a petition to revoke arrest,” added Sledd. “Those charges were filed in November and December and then warrants were issued and they were arrested in December and January. We all have the same goal to keep jail numbers down. 95 is still better than days when the numbers were at 160.”
