VALLEY COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPT
Grant: $24,549 - Department of Justice - Jun. 18, 2009
100% voted satisfied - 0% voted not satisfied - 1 vote(s) cast
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Award Description: BJA FY 09 Recovery Act -JAG-Local. Titled Overtime and Liability Reduction. This project is an effort to reduce courtroom overtime and officer liability. Our goal is to equip eight of our twelve patrol vehicles with dash mount cameras. Valley County is approx. 4,023 square miles, 92% of which is public lands or wilderness area. We have ten patrolmen responsible for this vast area, however much of our time is spent unnecessarily in the courtroom. The Valley County Sheriffs Office is the primary law enforcement agency in Valley County, however our effectiveness is severely curtailed due to the amount of hours our officers are spending in the courtroom when, with a recording, many of these cases would never go to trial. By installing dash mount digital cameras in our patrol vehicles we will substantially reduce unnecessary courtroom overtime, allowing us to redirect those hours to the detection and apprehension of criminals, thus better serving our community and visitors alike. The reduction in officer liability will be realized by officers knowledge of the recordings and the knowledge that any allegation can be quickly disproved. The drawdown of these funds would occur in two phases, the first phase would be a one time lump sum of payment of $23,960.00 to the vendor for the purchase of the units. The second would be a one time lump sum payment of $589.00 to the installation technician for installation. This is a project that can be accomplished very quickly. We estimate that within 30 days of the award, the project will be complete and all units will be operational. We should see a reduction in unnecessary overtime almost immediately, making more efficient use of tax payer dollars. Our goal is to have all units operational on or before 7-23-09. Our records management system currently tracks our activity and can quickly be adjusted to allow us to track our time in the courtroom.
Project Description: Our agency will record every contact and make these recordings available to our prosecuting attorney and the courts. Our officers will also be required to document, through our records management system, their activities when attending and leaving court. This should allow us to track what we believe will be a significant reduction in unnecessary overtime, allowing us to redirect those hours to the detectuion and apprehension of criminals. In recording evrry contact, and maintaining that recording pursuant to our retention schedule, the officer will be aware that their actions are being recorded, causing them to increase their professional bearing. Also any alegations can be quickly disputed
Jobs Summary: None (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: More than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jun. 18, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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