The mission of the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is to provide honest, fair, professional law enforcement services to the citizens of Bradley County while managing resources effectively to prevent and reduce crime. To this end, it has always been my goal to continually upgrade, modernize and enhance the professionalism and effectiveness of the BCSO. One of the latest methods by which I hope to accomplish this is through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

CALEA is a nationally recognized professional law enforcement model that will bring cohesion and consistency to the operations of the BCSO. Some of the advantages include greater accountability, controlling liability insurance costs, offering a stronger defense against civil lawsuits, advancing greater support from government officials and increasing community advocacy. Currently, there are three sheriff’s offices that are accredited in Tennessee.  My hope is Bradley County will become the fourth.

This is a gradual process, but my goal is to at least be close to accreditation by the end of my first term. The CALEA model is the yardstick by which modern law enforcement agencies are measured in terms of professionalism and accountability, and I’m anxious to move forward with it.

This week, I want to spotlight Capt. Steve Lawson and all his detectives in the BCSO Criminal Investigation Division (CID). They’ve done a terrific job of recovering stolen property, reducing burglaries and closing cases. According to Capt. Lawson, CID has made 50 percent more arrests over last year for aggravated burglaries.

For example, just looking at the months of July, CID reported that during July of 2006, there were a total of 24 aggravated burglaries in the county with only one arrest. This past July, 2007, there were a total of 17 aggravated burglaries with eight arrests. I think that’s significant, considering the budget constraints under which we’re operating. Capt. Lawson credits the CID’s success to better motivated and better focused detectives, as well as the BCSO actually having more deputies out on the road.

To that, I would add, it is also due to the determination of more Bradley County citizens to take an active role in reducing crime. You are the eyes and ears of your community. If you see a crime or have knowledge of criminal activity, you can add greatly to the safety and security of our community by reporting  it to the Sheriff’s Office in a timely manner. We have a tip hotline set up that allows you to report suspicious and/or illegal activity in a way that will protect your privacy. Call (423) 728-7336. We here at the BCSO are giving you our best efforts and I feel like we’re showing positive results. By having the Bradley County community partnering with us, our efforts will be strengthened even more.

Another new development in the CID involves the crime lab. Capt. Lawson and I have agreed that the BCSO lab should  no longer conduct blood alcohol examinations or drug identification analysis. One reason for this is a lack of funding, but the main reason is we want to stop duplicating services at taxpayers’ expense. It makes no sense for the Bradley County taxpayer to foot the bill of providing the same services to area agencies that can be provided by the TBI lab in Knoxville just as quickly and effectively. So from this point on, the BCSO laboratory will no longer be conducting blood alcohol or drug identification examinations. Those will be forwarded to the TBI .

However, the CID will continue to develop and maintain a state-of-the-art crime scene processing unit to identify and collect evidence. CID will also continue to conduct latent fingerprint examinations, as this has proven to be a cost effective and extremely beneficial method in solving a number of local burglaries.

Next, I want you to mark your calendars for Saturday, October 13, when we’ll be having the big  Sheriff’s Family Day festival out at the TriState Exhibition Center . This will be a day of free food,  fun and festivities suitable for the whole family. In addition to pony rides, face painting, air toys, live music, exhibits and other fun happenings, we’ll be set up for voter registration. We’re also offering all elected officials in Cleveland/Bradley the opportunity to turn out in person and meet the public. We’ll be posting more details at the BCSO website within the next few days, so check in on a regular basis to  www.bradleysheriff.com

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing you all a week from Thursday (September 27) at Oak Grove School for our fourth and final Town Hall meeting . We will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m. and I’ll be there to address any questions, concerns or comments you may have regarding the Bradley Count Sheriff’s Office. For directions to the school, click here .

This weekend marks the anniversary of my first year in the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office. I appreciate all the kindness and support I’ve received from the community. Bradley County is my home town and I believe it’s the best place in the world to live.

When I look back over the past 12 months, I see a year marked by much progress and positive change. I’m proud of the fact that we have more deputies out on patrol and I’m proud that I was able to restructure top heavy management and redistribute salaries in such a way as to increase deputies’ starting pay by $2,000. We’re still running about 22 percent behind the regional average in wages for agencies of similar size and responsibility, but at least it was a start.

For more about my first year as Bradley County Sheriff, read the in-depth interview I did with J. Michael Leonard here at the BCSO website. We've all been working hard to improve and update the BCSO website in order to provide the public with a reliable and accurate source of information regarding the Sheriff’s Office and some of the things we’re doing. Check in with us regularly. And if you have any comments, suggestions or observations you’d like to share, you can email me at: comments@bradleysheriff.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

I’d like to start out this week by extending a heartfelt thank you to everyone who came out for the first of four Sheriff’s Town Hall Meetings last Thursday at Hopewell School . Thanks to everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes to set it up, and thanks also to Principal Tim Riggs for opening the Hopewell campus to us. It was a perfect venue, the turnout was good and I think it was a great success. I look forward to the remaining three.

These town hall meetings are a perfect opportunity for the community to turn out with questions, comments and clarifications. Last Thursday I fielded a wide range of questions, including the BCSO’s new Commando 150 APC, the ICE 287(g) immigration program, the BCSO environmental officer, (as you may well imagine) the BCSO budget needs, and many other issues. I am pleased to have had an opportunity to address these issues with the citizens of Bradley County firsthand and in person, and I appreciate so many of you showing such an interest in county government. Citizen involvement is vital to fair, effective and accountable leadership, and I welcome your input.