Sheriff's Office compiling annual report

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Nevada Daily Mail

The Vernon County Sheriff's office is working to compile the department's first annual statistics report.

Sheriff Jason Mosher said the department has been working to pull information on the number of arrests, calls for service and other statistics for the last year. The final report will include information from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013.

The preliminary statistics offer a glance into the last year of county law enforcement. In 2013, deputies made 1,003 arrests and answered 12,839 calls for assistance. Fourteen drug busts were orchestrated, and there were 2,724 civil processes -- the act of serving papers to someone for a required court appearance.

Pursuits have been included in the initial report. Sheriff's deputies were involved in eight, foot pursuits and 11 vehicle pursuits. In those 19 chases, all suspects were captured.

Another standout point includes the recovery of one explosive device in September. Mosher and Chief Deputy Shayne Simmons arrested a Nevada man for possession of a firearm and explosive device, who was located after running from police the prior week.

That incident was the first time the sheriff's office required assistance from the State Highway Patrol Bomb Squad. A traffic stop early Friday morning was the second instance within the last six months where the bomb squad was called to recover an explosive device, but that incident will be counted in the 2014 statistics report.

At a glance, the largest numbers from the statistics list are the sheriff's office mileage, which account for driving within and outside of the county limits.

Deputies traveled 238,314 miles within the county in 2013. Those miles account for Mosher's implementation of 24-hour coverage of the county by deputies.

Mosher told the Daily Mail in January that increasing overnight patrols was a primary goal during his first year in office. Prior to his time as sheriff, deputies did not have consistent evening coverage. Some nights, deputy patrol would cease at 4 a.m., with other nights ending at midnight.

"If there was a call, they [dispatchers] would have to call the deputy and wake him up. He'd have to rush, but it took awhile. Response time was long," Mosher said.

Transportation contracts have led to a large number of miles traveled outside of Vernon County. Within the last year, deputies have driven 75,635 solely for picking up or dropping off suspects and inmates.

A contract with Greene County has brought in $500,000 to the county in exchange for housing inmates. Part of that contract includes transporting inmates to court appearances outside of the county, and deputies make a weekly trip to Greene County to pick up and drop off inmates.

The sheriff's office also handles transportation for juveniles within the court circuit, which includes Barton, Dade, Vernon and Cedar counties. Mosher said that if a juvenile is detained in any of those regions, the office is responsible for transporting the individual anywhere they need to go.

Out of county miles account for trips within Missouri, to places like St. Louis and Kansas City to pick up suspects. In January, deputies picked up individuals from Washington and Florida.

Mosher said that completing statistic reports is an annual goal. The sheriff's office is continuing to work through records to pull numbers for 2013, and plans to do so again at the end of this year.

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