Image courtesy of Jefferson PD
With the current situation that the Jefferson Police Department finds itself in, another law enforcement agency will need to help provide coverage.
Earlier this week, the Greene County Board of Supervisors, the Jefferson City Council and Sheriff Jack Williams approved a 28E agreement for the Sheriff’s Office to provide temporary law enforcement coverage for the City. Part of the agreement includes the City paying the County $1,000 per shift that a deputy would have to cover for up to 15 shifts per month. Additionally, the City will pay $60 per hour for a deputy to continue to do work when off-duty. County Attorney Thomas Laehn describes that as following up with investigations from arrests during on-duty coverage shifts, or in court hearings.
The agreement also outlines the kinds of coverage that the Sheriff’s Office will provide. The coverage includes routine patrol services, enforcing state laws, investigating criminal activity that would warrant additional investigation and specialized traffic and vehicle operation enforcement. However, deputies will not respond to animal-related calls for service, except for animal bites.
The agreement goes into effect October 1st. Police Chief Mark Clouse says he is losing Sergeant Shane Jones to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office on October 1st and that will necessitate the agreement since there will be some open shifts. The department will be down to four officers for the eight-member department. Clouse notes Officer Mark Wolterman will be returning from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy in three weeks to bring the department back up to five.
The agreement only covers one officer’s shift, but Clouse believes there are things internally that he can do to get them through the interim.
“I have some overtime ability to offer the officer on the other side of the schedule to work some of those shifts. I, myself, am available to cover some shifts if I can get to that point where I can do so. So I think there are some internal things that we can do to kind of help minimize that coverage.”
Greene County Supervisor Chair John Muir gives his impression of the overall agreement.
“My take on it is it’s very fair. I think that’s because they sat down and talked about what was going to be needed on the sheriff’s (office) side, and what the PD (police department) thought they could see coming down the road with needing to build back up with more officers. I think those guys looked at it and came up with a good solution.”
The agreement will automatically expire on September 30th. Click the link below to view the agreement.