Daniel Prince
Apr 20, 2023
Four new deputies, increased equipment budget among his requests
At Tuesday’s Union County Council budget meeting, the longest presentation from the elected officials came from Sheriff Jeff Bailey. He noted that he tries to be a good steward of the money entrusted to his department, stating that with 3 months to go in the fiscal year, the sheriff’s office has spent 71% of its budget so far. He said he plans to cut off spending as of May 1 unless an emergency need arises. In the next budget, he requested an increase in clothing and uniforms, stating that the cost of uniforms is up, he has several reserve deputies to outfit as well as other positions, and he also stated that budget could be dipped into to cover the cost of protective vests if needed. Training costs are up, partly due to the accreditation process his office is going through and should have complete sometime next month. He said his weapons and ammunition budget has nearly doubled for the coming year, as he needs to budget more money for tasers, as right now they don’t have an extra ones if there is a problem with one that a deputy currently carries. He said officers must have a less-than-lethal option, and the tasers are that option for his office. He said the new grant from the Department of Public Safety could be used to offset the cost of around three tasers, depending on how the grant is managed. The bulk of the grant will go toward school resource officers.
Bailey said he is asking for four new deputy positions this year. He said having five deputies available per shift would help cut down on overtime his officers are currently putting in. He noted his office handled just over 15,000 calls in 2022, averaging 1.6 calls per person per hour. He said some deputies are working too many hours, and eventually that could lead to a situation where the deputy lets his or her guard down and then gets hurt or killed. He said if the county could only do one or two deputies, he could put them on the busiest shift, between 2 p.m. and 2 a.m.
For capital equipment needs, he noted two new systems he would like to get for his office. Both would incur ongoing costs. The first is something called iCrimeFighter, which is a cloud-based evidence system. It will automatically upload photos and video from officers’ bodycams and store them in the cloud. Currently, the bodycams have to be docked and manually uploaded to a server. Bailey noted the bodycams are now obsolete and the server is nearly full. The new bodycams they are getting would be compatible with the iCrimeFighter system. Having this system in place would also cut down on several hours of work in pulling cases, manually downloading and burning photos to disks, and mailing them or taking them to solicitors for pending cases. The solicitor’s office would have secured access to the new system and could download the needed files themselves, speeding up the process significantly. The price tag for the system comes at around $25,000 a year.
The other system he mentioned is called Power DMS. It will keep up with the sheriff’s office’s policies and procedures, including who has signed off on policies, who has undergone training, what policy changes have occurred, and more. Bailey said such a system is important to the accreditation process and will help a great deal when it comes to lawsuits. The cost would be $10,000 a year.
The final thing Bailey mentioned is around $2500 to help get the Explorers program off the ground. He said the program, for ages 14-21, goes through Boy Scouts of America, and the students get some law enforcement training and will be able to help out at events and other things. Bailey said some in the program are in the law enforcement classes at the Career and Technology Center. He said when they are old enough to enter law enforcement, they will have a leg up because of the training they will have received and the recommendations he can make for them. They are also doing fundraisers to help with the cost of the program.
One common theme from all the elected officials who presented was to take care of the employees. Supervisor Phillip Russell said he would like to stop the revolving door that is happening, where Union is the training ground for people who then go on to work for counties because the pay is better. Council will get a better idea of what they can do to take care of employees once revenue projections are in later this month. WBCU News will continue to follow the budget process and keep you informed as to what is happening. Final approval of the budget is expected during the June regular council meeting.