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Let me ask you a question. Are any of you spending the same amount for gasoline that you were spending three years ago? Or even last year? If your livelihood depends upon traveling or being on the road or using your automobile in any way, are your gasoline bills the same as they were three years ago? Are they lower? Are they higher? I doubt anyone can answer that their gas expenses are lower today than they were three years ago, or even lower than they were last year. How much more, then, does that apply to a law enforcement agency charged with protecting a community comprising 333 square miles? Three years ago, the BCSO fuel budget, as set by the Bradley County Commission, was $277,756. In this past budget, that fuel allowance ~ in the face or ever-increasing fuel costs ~ was $275,000. That is actually $2,756 less than three years ago. No where else in the country have fuel costs decreased over the last three years. Yet, our commission has seen fit to budget the BSCO fuel needs at $2,756 less this year than three years ago!
This gas problem is compounded by the fact that we have increased patrols in the county. Understand that Bradley County is made of up of four zones. Each of these county zones is larger in land mass than the entire city of Cleveland, and similar in population. On a recent Thursday evening, the city of Cleveland had close to 20 officers covering the city. On that same Thursday evening (as with every evening), the county had two deputies per zone (a total of eight deputies covering the entire county). Remember, each zone is larger in size than the entire city and similar in population. I don’t think two deputies per zone is too many.
When I took office in September 2006, there was often only one deputy per county zone. In other words, four deputies to cover an area over four times larger than the city (the county being 333 sq. mi., the city being 25 sq. mi.). One of the first changes I made as sheriff was to reassign top-heavy BCSO management and shift those resources to the field. In this way I was able to, first of all, increase starting pay for deputies from approximately $24,000 a year to $26,000 (city police officers start out at $32,000); and secondly, I increased county patrols to two deputies per zone instead of just one deputy per zone (two per zone is minimal; we really need more).
Shifting resources to the field and increasing patrols has proven instrumental in a 30 percent reduction in burglaries in the county last year over the year before, and an overall clearance rate of all crime in Bradley County by 45 percent. That clearance rate is actually 15 percent above the national average. Obviously, adding another patrol deputy to each zone increased gasoline usage. But it has also increased security for the citizens of Bradley County, as well as the deputies who patrol the four county zones.
When I took office, I knew gas prices and calls for service would increase because of the growing population, and I asked the county commission that $55,000 be added to the existing fuel budget in order to accommodate the anticipated increase. They made the choice not to give the BCSO an increase, but to fund us $2,756 less than three years before.
There has been a continual and unfair barrage of criticism aimed at the BCSO ever since I took office and it is harmful to the citizens of Bradley County. I have even read where some commissioners are actually calling on the BCSO to park our patrol cars and pull our drug cars out of service. I cannot overstate how ill-advised such a course of action would be. My command staff and I have been brainstorming on ways to compensate for the fuel shortfall, and we have been able to identify a combined $70,000 from other operational line items that can be transferred without substantially impacting operations in an adverse way. But this is a temporary fix at best and further transfers would require cutting services, which I do not consider a viable option.
The BCSO is statutorily mandated to keep the peace, investigate crime, patrol the roadways, protect the courts, serve criminal and civil warrants, and operate the county jail. Additionally, our duties and responsibilities cover a whole host of other areas relating to public safety, including protecting schools, traffic enforcement, environmental enforcement, and disaster preparedness and response (whether natural or manmade).
I won’t reiterate all the cost-cutting measures we have implemented at the BCSO or all the savings we have been able to achieve, as I have already done so a number of times in the past. To familiarize yourself with accurate and unfiltered information regarding the operations of the BCSO, visit this website often. I think we have done a remarkable job with limited resources; or, in the case of fuel, reduced resources.
The BCSO continues to perform in an exemplary manner. I credit the many positive accomplishments of the Sheriff’s Office to the exceptional performance and dedication of BCSO deputies. And I will continue to make their case as often and as vocally as I can. They deserve no less.
As ever, if you want to find out more about the BCSO or if you want to read the stories you won’t find anywhere else, visit our website. If you want to contact me directly with confidential and/or candid comments, you can email me at comments@bradleysheriff.com. I always enjoy hearing from you. There are solutions to every problem, and together we will find them.
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