We will be entering a new year in a few days and many people will be on the road, traveling locally and out-of-state to visit friends and relatives. I want to wish everyone well this holiday. Obviously, if you are going to be drinking, do not get behind the wheel of an automobile. Not only does drinking and driving put yourself and others at great risk, it can result in jail time and loss of your license for one year for a first offense.

One of the BCSO programs I am proud of here at the jail is the BCSO Inmate Work Program. You may have seen inmates picking up litter around the county. In addition to litter pick-up, they perform many other valuable functions for Bradley County. During the month of November alone, the work crews in the Inmate Work Program helped paint the gym at Tennessee Christian Preparatory School, spread mulch at Charleston Elementary, worked at Tri-State Exhibition Center, unloaded trucks and moved other items for Habitat for Humanity and helped maintain the grounds at Union Grove Cemetery. Additionally, these crews worked here at the Bradley County Justice Center pulling weeds, raking up leaves, landscaping and performing miscellaneous other duties. Again, these inmates are a tremendous help to Bradley County and a great savings to taxpayers. I am very proud of the good job they do. Any non-profit organization or government entity (city or county) that would like to have benefit of the BCSO Inmate Work Program can call us here at the Justice Center to get on the waiting list.

Another operation that I would like to highlight for the good job they do is the BCSO garage. Currently, the BCSO operates an effective vehicle maintenance program for approximately $135,000 per year. This is an excellent price and is largely due to the fact that we have access to inmate labor, we re-use parts off old patrol vehicles that have been retired, and we pay no mark-ups on parts and service we perform ourselves. By doing this we are able to fund our garage at about 166 percent less than other area law enforcement vehicle maintenance budgets with similar sized fleets. This is good news for the county taxpayer.

Additionally, public safety requirements for Bradley County residents require that BCSO vehicles receive priority service so they can stay operational, deterring crime and answering calls. We are currently able to do this by operating our own garage. When the County Commission was looking at utilizing the city garage to service county vehicles, it was noted in a Chattanooga Times Free Press article (December 11, 2008) that the City of Cleveland was unwilling to place any county vehicles ahead of their own.

Since this would put the safety of county residents at a lower priority, I cannot support the idea of using the city garage for the BCSO fleet. Also, based on the dollar amount allocated for the city police vehicle maintenance budget, we would have to significantly increase our own vehicle maintenance budget by about 166 percent to cover the mark-up on parts and gasoline and budget for labor costs that we currently get for free.

Also keep in mind, the BCSO is paying 27 percent of our current garage lease from drug money seizures at absolutely no cost to the taxpayer. I am not aware of any  fleet management operation in the state that is more effective or efficient that than ours, even with leasing the building. I commend employees Lt. Mike Boggess, Earl Pike, Doug Albritton and Emmett Banks, as well as all the low-risk inmates for their hard work at the BCSO garage. They have kept some of these extremely high-milage vehicles on the road long after most law enforcement agencies would have had them replaced. Again, this is good news for the taxpayer.

In closing, I want to extend my appreciation to so many of you who have supported and encouraged the BCSO over the years. May you all have a safe, healthy and prosperous new year.

The Bradley County Sheriff’s Office is located at 2290 Blythe Ave., SE, Cleveland 37311. Visit us online at: www.bradleysheriff.com. If you would like to contact me personally, email: comments@bradleysheriff.com