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Sheriff'sBlog
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Monday, 22 March 2010 |
This budget year, we will achieve another of our goals here at the BCSO. That is, we will have installed dashboard cameras in all our patrol cars.
The importance of dash cams to law enforcement cannot be overstated. They serve as an impartial witness to traffic stops and other activity, and are invaluable in court cases where a citizen’s account of an incident differs from that of an officer.
Because the cameras also record audio, almost everything said during a stop is recorded as well, and the audio and video are admissible as evidence in court. When there are different accounts of an incident, the video can settle the truth of the matter and avoid “he said, she said.” Often, no one is intentionally lying, people might just have different recollections of an incident, or perhaps they don’t remember all the details. Dash cams don’t take sides. They protect both the deputy and citizens.
Recently, a woman reported that one of our deputies had made improper advances and propositioned her during a traffic stop. In this case, however, after reviewing the dash cam footage, it was obvious the woman was not telling the truth. The deputy had conducted himself and the traffic stop strictly by the book. He was exonerated and the woman’s story exposed as faulty, protecting the deputy.
By that same token, should a deputy intentionally misuse his or her authority and behave in an unprofessional or inappropriate manner towards a citizen, the cameras will give administrators a truthful account of the event so appropriate action can be taken to protect citizens and enforce policy.
Without dash cams, frivolous lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Office are much more likely, as it often comes down to one’s word against another. Preventing just one phony court case pays for these cameras a thousand times over.
If a deputy has to be concerned that each encounter with the public could potentially lead to them having to defend themselves in court, it can obviously interfere with the execution of their duties. Dash cams don’t lie, they don’t change their mind, they don’t have to rely on a faulty recollection of events ~ they simply document what is said and done.
Again, the importance of dash cams to law enforcement cannot be overstated and I am pleased (as are our deputies) that we now have this important tool complete in our arsenal. Crime never rests and those who are responsible for stopping crime deserve every advantage we can give them.
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Monday, 22 March 2010 |
According to state law, police officers are not obligated to function in a law enforcement capacity when they are off duty. They are authorized to do so, if the situation calls for it, but they are not required to.
However, given the choice, I have found that BCSO deputies are more than willing to step in if needed, whether on duty or off. This is because they take their responsibilities and commitment to public safety very seriously and it is not unusual for them to respond to threats or suspicious activity wherever and whenever they encounter it.
A few weeks ago, on February 7, an off-duty BCSO deputy noticed suspicious activity in the parking lot of his church. He called for back-up and investigated. As it turns out, the suspicious person was not a member or attendee of the church and, when back-up officers arrived, was found to have taken a wallet from one of the cars. He was arrested and charged and the wallet was returned to its owner.
In another incident that took place on February 21, a man entered the sanctuary of another local church asking for money. An off-duty BCSO deputy recognized the man, approached him and identified himself as a deputy. A computer check through the 911 Center revealed the man to have two outstanding warrants for failure to appear on drug and criminal trespass charges. He was arrested and transported to the jail.
In yet another incident four days later, on February 25, a BCSO deputy was relaxing at home, enjoying a day off when he noticed a commotion outside his window. Across the street from his home, three people were involved in a fist fight. He immediately called for backup and went outside to break up the fight.
These three incidents took place over the course of one month and in each case, an off-duty deputy, without regard to whether or not they were “on the clock,” stepped up in a pro-active manner to protect people. This serves to illustrate the diligence of Bradley County deputies and the great role they play in safeguarding this community and the citizens they are sworn to protect. I am proud of the quality of the men and women of the BCSO and it is a privilege to work with them.
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Monday, 22 March 2010 |
If you or a member of your family were robbed or assaulted or otherwise fell victim to crime, wouldn’t you want law enforcement to do everything in their power to find the ones responsible and bring them to justice in a quick and timely manner?
I’m sure most everyone would answer yes to that question, and that is why it is so important not to follow through with the proposal to cut back on basic TBI forensic services as the state seeks to balance its budget.
Public safety is the top priority of local, state and federal government, and, to that end, the TBI crime lab is a major link in the criminal justice chain. Without this important link, law enforcement agencies all across the state will be hampered in processing evidence needed to support their court cases and the public safety will suffer. When I first took office, the TBI lab had such a backlog, prosecution of local cases were sometimes held up for months or even years as evidence waited to be processed. TBI Director Mark Gwyn has done an excellent job in significantly reducing this backlog by hiring more forensic personnel. Cutting back on forensic personnel now will only bring that logjam back.
It is extremely rare and often impractical for a local law enforcement agency to have their own crime lab because the operating costs are so high and quite often local labs simply duplicate services that have traditionally been provided by the state. For this reason, local agencies all across Tennessee rely heavily on the TBI crime lab to conduct all types of lab work to help prosecute crime. Some of these services include blood/alcohol analysis to help convict suspected drunk drivers, drug identification services to help convict suspected drug dealers, fingerprint identification services, fiber analysis services, DNA testing and other tests to help identify and convict all types of thieves, burglars, robbers, rapists and murderers. It is a critical responsibility of state government to provide these lab services to local agencies.
If the state begins reducing forensics personnel or charging local agencies like the BCSO for their lab services, we may be forced to cut back in other vital crime fighting areas that are already very lean. We may have to request additional funding from the Bradley County Commission to cover the costs passed onto us by the state or the costs of outsourcing our lab requests. Another possibility is we may be forced to cut back on our lab requests, which in essence means cutting back on our local crime fighting efforts, something I do not support.
None of these options are good for our community as local budgets are also struggling to cope with higher costs and less tax revenue in a difficult economy. Currently, Tennessee has what is reported to be one of the highest violent crime rates per capita in the nation. The last thing taxpayer citizens of Tennessee and Bradley County need is a reduction in crime fighting services. We have recently made progress in Tennessee, let’s not go backward.
Not all government services are equal ~ some are more important than others. Across the board cuts, while well intended, often have unintended consequences that jeopardize the safety of people and cause governments to fail in their primary responsibility. I think Governor Bredesen has done a good job administering state budgets since he took office, but I do not think it’s wise to create an environment that hinders law enforcement, investigative efforts, a prosecutor’s ability to obtain convictions and the right of the accused to a speedy trial.
In their desire to cut waste and reduce spending in Tennessee, I urge the Governor and all state legislators to look to less vital state expenditures instead of passing the states crime lab costs on to local governments or forcing us to cut back on vital public safety services to cover our increased costs.
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 |
If you or a member of your family were robbed or assaulted or otherwise fell victim to crime, wouldn’t you want law enforcement to do everything in their power to find the ones responsible and bring them to justice in a quick and timely manner?
I’m sure most everyone would answer yes to that question, and that is why it is so important not to follow through with the proposal to cut back on basic TBI forensic services as the state seeks to balance its budget.
Public safety is the top priority of local, state and federal government, and, to that end, the TBI crime lab is a major link in the criminal justice chain. Without this important link, law enforcement agencies all across the state will be hampered in processing evidence needed to support their court cases and the public safety will suffer. When I first took office, the TBI lab had such a backlog, prosecution of local cases were sometimes held up for months or even years as evidence waited to be processed. TBI Director Mark Gwyn has done an excellent job in significantly reducing this backlog by hiring more forensic personnel. Cutting back on forensic personnel now will only bring that logjam back.
It is extremely rare and often impractical for a local law enforcement agency to have their own crime lab because the operating costs are so high and quite often local labs simply duplicate services that have traditionally been provided by the state. For this reason, local agencies all across Tennessee rely heavily on the TBI crime lab to conduct all types of lab work to help prosecute crime. Some of these services include blood/alcohol analysis to help convict suspected drunk drivers, drug identification services to help convict suspected drug dealers, fingerprint identification services, fiber analysis services, DNA testing and other tests to help identify and convict all types of thieves, burglars, robbers, rapists and murderers. It is a critical responsibility of state government to provide these lab services to local agencies.
If the state begins reducing forensics personnel or charging local agencies like the BCSO for their lab services, we may be forced to cut back in other vital crime fighting areas that are already very lean. We may have to request additional funding from the Bradley County Commission to cover the costs passed onto us by the state or the costs of outsourcing our lab requests. Another possibility is we may be forced to cut back on our lab requests, which in essence means cutting back on our local crime fighting efforts, something I do not support.
None of these options are good for our community as local budgets are also struggling to cope with higher costs and less tax revenue in a difficult economy. Currently, Tennessee has what is reported to be one of the highest violent crime rates per capita in the nation. The last thing taxpayer citizens of Tennessee and Bradley County need is a reduction in crime fighting services. We have recently made progress in Tennessee, let’s not go backward.
Not all government services are equal ~ some are more important than others. Across the board cuts, while well intended, often have unintended consequences that jeopardize the safety of people and cause governments to fail in their primary responsibility. I think Governor Bredesen has done a good job administering state budgets since he took office, but I do not think it’s wise to create an environment that hinders law enforcement, investigative efforts, a prosecutor’s ability to obtain convictions and the right of the accused to a speedy trial.
In their desire to cut waste and reduce spending in Tennessee, I urge the Governor and all state legislators to look to less vital state expenditures instead of passing the states crime lab costs on to local governments or forcing us to cut back on vital public safety services to cover our increased costs.
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Written by Tim Gobble, Sheriff
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Thursday, 18 February 2010 |
Statistics for the inmate work crews are in for January. According to the daily work house logs, inmates performed lawn care, landscaping and cleaning fences at Walker Valley High School, and cleaned up branches and cut trees at Taylor Elementary. They cleaned up salt and sand at Union Grove cemetery and cleared brush at the Charleston ballpark. They performed litter pick-up, cleaned walls and hallways, and stripped and waxed the floors at the Justice Center, as well as salting and sanding there after the recent snowfall. They hauled four tons of dirt from the Tri-State Exhibition Center to the inmate garden, helped out at the BCSO garage, performed litter pick-up on a number of county roadways and serviced maintenance equipment.
These work crews continue to perform well for the county, saving time and money. When you consider the costs of paying county employees or contractors to perform the same tasks that are now being done by the work crews, we have estimated the savings to taxpayers last year was approximately $1.1 million. This is just another way the BCSO is working to off-set expenses for the second largest public safety organization in Bradley County.
But inmates can only do so much and while they perform in a thorough and conscientious manner, all too often the roadways become littered again almost as soon as the crews get them cleaned. Where the crews will restore an area to its pristine nature, litter bugs seem to hit with a vengeance, leaving paper cups, fast food wrappers, paper bags, diapers, cigarette butts and pretty much anything else you can imagine.
This was made clear to me recently after driving through an area the inmates had recently cleaned and noticing it was already being choked with new trash and litter. If the public knew just how much litter the work crews clean from county roadways and public property each month, I think they would be surprised. But if they realized how quickly litter begins to re-accumulate, I think they would be shocked.
In most cases, the litter is tossed from the windows of moving cars or is blown from truck beds. The obvious solution would be to keep a litter bag in your car and use it. Upon returning home, it is a simple matter to deposit the litter bag in your outside trash can for regular curbside pickup. Or, litter can be disposed of in a dumpster.
Protecting the environment is an important aspect of public safety. If there are any doubts as to what the laws in Tennessee are regarding litter, you may want to clip this column out and keep it in your car. In Tennessee, a person commits littering who:
1). Knowingly places, drops or throws litter on any public or private property without permission and does not immediately remove it;
2). Negligently places or throws glass or other dangerous substances on or adjacent to water which the public has access to for swimming or wading, or on or within 50 feet of a public highway, or
3). Negligently discharges sewage, minerals, oil products or litter into any public waters or lakes within this state.
Anyone found guilty of violating these statutes can receive a fine, plus court costs, and may even face the possibility of having to perform community service.
Litter pick-up is just one area covered by the inmate work crews. They also perform duties at the Tri-State Exhibition Center, assist the County Road Dept., and the help with fleet maintenance at the BCSO garage.
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