Pubdate: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 Source: Messenger-Inquirer (KY) Copyright: 2003 Messenger-Inquirer Contact: http://www.messenger-inquirer.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1285 Author: Justin Willis SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS SPREAD THIN Daviess, McCracken, Warren see increasing demands Sheriff's departments throughout western Kentucky say they juggle the demands of urban sprawl, methamphetamine and homeland security concerns with patrol staffs that have remained largely unchanged during the past 10 years. Daviess, McCracken and Warren county sheriff's departments could double the size of their road patrols and still fall below the recommended national averages of two officers per 1,000 residents. At full strength, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department will have a patrol force of 21 officers who respond to crashes and calls for help. Currently, the department has 19 officers and is awaiting two new recruits who will graduate from the police academy this month. If the department was staffed with two officers for every 1,000 people it serves, it would have more than 70 officers patrolling roads instead of 21. On a typical Saturday evening, about four or five officers will patrol the 446 square miles of Daviess County outside Owensboro with a population of about 37,545 residents. The department does a good job with the size of the patrol, but it could be much more effective, said Capt. David Osborne. The sheriff's department requested an additional six officers last year, and a compromise was reached to add three officers. Daviess Fiscal Court gave the department an additional $1.3 million. "We get calls from people saying, 'We don't ever see a sheriff's cruiser,' " Osborne said. "It's pretty easily explained why they don't see them. Because of the numbers." The size of the Daviess County sheriff's patrol is nearly the same as McCracken County's, which at full force would have 18 officers patrolling the roads. The McCracken County department is short six officers, all of whom left in the past three months to work security at an atomic energy plant near Paducah. But even with 18 deputies, the demands are overwhelming, said Chief Deputy Terry Long. "That's really not enough," Long said. "It's unreal." The size of the patrol has not increased in 11 years despite requests each year for additional manpower, Long said. Since then a meth epidemic arrived, and police increased efforts to patrol sensitive sites for homeland security, Long said. The McCracken deputies patrol 252 square miles with a population of 37,514. The department could use 10 more deputies, he said. If the patrol staff was expanded to 50 officers, it would be even with volume of business, he said. Until two years ago, the Warren County Sheriff's Department relied on Kentucky State Police to respond to calls for service during the night, said sheriff's bookkeeper Carol Hurd. Now the department has 20 patrol officers who respond to calls 24 hours a day. The officers serve a county population of about 42,000 residents. A domestic violence call may tie up a deputy for two or three hours, Hurd said. The department is growing more diversified with a police K9 unit, school resource officers and criminal investigations, she said. The department has requested additional patrol for the growing county, she said. "We have really expressed concerns of wanting more patrol," Hurd said. "It seems like it keeps getting put on the back burner." Population alone is not a foolproof measure for the need of more officers, said Gary Cordner, dean of the College of Justice and Safety at Eastern Kentucky University. When experts are requested to perform a survey about the need for additional officers, they examine calls for service and crime rates. Plus, the size of the police agency is largely what taxpayers want it to be, Cordner said. Some communities may be willing to pay for a school resource officer at each school, while others don't care. The Kentucky State Police pull more weight in some communities than in others, he said. The two officers for every 1,000 people is a general rule for municipal police agencies but may fluctuate in sheriff's departments, Cordner said. The complaints about sizes of departments is not unique to western Kentucky, he said. "I've never met a police department (that) didn't (express the need for more officers)," Cordner said. "And police departments are not alone in that. Every school you talk with would say they need more teachers." The most important concern is safety for the community, said Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire. The safety must be weighed against a realistic financial situation for the county, Haire said. The sheriff's department receives a smaller percentage of the administrative fees on taxes it collects when compared with other departments, Haire said. In other communities, fiscal court likely provides less additional money for the agency. Haire said he does not receive calls from residents concerned about the level of policing in the county. "With the meth labs, I think an increase would likely be justified, but whether the community is willing to pay for it is unlikely," Haire said. "If you don't (hear from concerned residents) you have to assume there's a sufficient number out there. You're always faced with the dilemma, 'Do we ever have enough?' " This Thursday, residents involved in Citizens and Law Enforcement: Partnering for a Stronger Community will present their recommendations to the city and county about the size of the police agencies. Haire and Owensboro City Manager Ron Payne previously made presentations to them. The problem is more complex than just putting additional officers on the street, Haire said. With added officers there will be more arrests and more inmates in the county jail, which is paid for at the county's expense. More juveniles arrested will mean more round trips to Bowling Green. With more patrol officers, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department could be more effective, Osborne said. Three detectives handle all criminal investigations from burglaries and missing child reports to rapes and robberies. One detective is assigned full-time to drug investigations. The department has worked well with Fiscal Court to increase funding, but the county would likely allocate more funds if enough people expressed a desire for more effective policing, Osborne said. "It's up to the citizens on what you want," Osborne said. "The people are going to have to express that." - --- MAP posted-by: Josh