Over the past several weeks, I have been writing about the accomplishments of the Bradley County  Sheriff’s Office, as well as the many plans we have in place for the future. I have stressed the fact that our community is growing at a strong and steady pace and pointed out the necessity of keeping up with that growth in order to provide a safe and progressive environment that our children will want to call home.

Last year, Bradley County Trustee Mike Smith gave a very positive annual report detailing the fiscal health of Bradley County. He cited total interest returns of $1,376,162 over the budgeted interest, investments of $25,087,000 (maturity dates from 7/18/07 to 11/15/08), and a bank balance of $30,447,466.93. Mr. Smith also cited other areas of reduced county expenses and increased revenue for the general fund. I believe Mr. Smith is doing a terrific job as Trustee and should be commended.

Last week, during his annual “State of the City” speech before the Kiwanis Club, Cleveland City Mayor Tom Rowland also presented a positive report regarding the financial growth of our community. Mayor Rowland predicted that 2008 will usher in a “retail explosion,” economic expansion, transportation improvements and increased tourism. According to the mayor, we will soon see many  retail outlets coming into the area people have been wanting for a number of years, including  a Target, Kohl’s, Circuit City and more.

My last two columns dealt with some of the accomplishments of the BCSO during 2007. We reduced the number of burglaries and thefts in the county and doubled arrests for those crimes. We shifted existing resources in order to increase patrols and put more deputies on the street. We reduced emergency response time and we reduced the number of outstanding warrants.

Looking ahead to 2008, we will carry on this forward momentum by continuing to manage our resources effectively to maintain and improve services to Bradley County, just as we have done over the past 16 months. Of course, my primary goal is to protect citizens by preventing and reducing crime in our county.

Another priority for this new year will be to continue working toward a merit pay plan in order to attract and retain qualified employees. It is vital that we adopt a more attractive salary and benefits package for our deputies in order to be competitive with other law enforcement agencies. It is detrimental to Bradley County and not in the best interests of our citizens to allow the pay disparity  to continue to grow. With a 23 percent documented pay gap, the BCSO is in danger of becoming a training ground for other law enforcement agencies. It is costly and counterproductive to train deputies and give them hands-on experience, just to have them leave for better pay and incentives after a few years. This creates a huge and unnecessary expense for taxpayers. There is no reason Bradley County cannot and should not be competitive  ~ and I am referring to the entire county, not just the BCSO. We can and should have a countywide merit pay plan like so many other professional, local governments have wisely adopted.

 Last week, I touched on a number of things the BCSO accomplished during 2007, but I didn’t have enough room to list them all. This week I will continue.

I mentioned that aggravated burglaries and overall crime rates were down in 2007, but another important tool we developed last year is a crime analysis/mapping program which will pinpoint problem areas in the county. As these problem areas are identified, we then can go in and clean them up by saturating the area with deputies and regular patrols. Criminals will usually follow the path of least resistance and if we make it hard enough on them to operate in Bradley County, if they know they will be arrested and prosecuted, they will generally choose to pack it in and move elsewhere. 

We held two very successful warrant round-ups in 2007, which helped achieve a warrant clearance rate above the national average. This was a cooperative effort involving the BCSO Court Services and Fugitive Warrants Unit working closely with the TBI, U.S. Marshall’s Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives, and the U.S. Attorney.
 
Last year, we saw much greater cooperation between regional, state and even federal agencies. These surrounding areas are our neighbors and it helps citizens everywhere when law enforcement agencies join together to fight crime, whether it is in our own backyard or our neighbor’s backyard. We will continue to encourage these cooperative efforts throughout the coming year and beyond.

Another year has come and gone, and I find myself 15 months into my first term as Bradley County Sheriff. The year of 2007 was a whirlwind of activity here at the BCSO, highlighted by a reduced aggravated burglary rate, increased street patrols, reduced response time, better management of available resources, clearing more outstanding warrants, developing national accreditation standards, housing Polk County inmates, reinstating the inmate work program, encouraging cooperative efforts with the community, and, of course, my attempt to secure adequate funding through the courts to close a documented pay gap and replace dangerous, high-mileage vehicles.

All these things were done with the intent to better serve a fast-growing population that is closing in on the 100,000 mark, and I am proud of the support the BCSO has received from the citizens of this county. I am also proud of the men and women who continue to place their safety on the line each day to help ensure the security of this community.
 
In my next two columns I will share with you some of the accomplishments the BCSO has achieved during 2007.