Whisper, the Sheriff is listening

I like to tell a few funny stories from time to time about how brilliant our aspiring criminals can be. I thought I had covered some of the following issues, but apparently we need to cover some of them once again. I did not think it was a secret that phone lines in the jail were recorded. So if there is something confusing about that let me elaborate on it. WE LISTEN TO THOSE RECORDINGS!

It is not complicated: if you talk about crime over the phone to someone in jail, we will hear you. So when you tell your girlfriend to "go hide the drug money" guess what, we heard that and we will come take the drug money away from you. When you ask your wife, "Do you think they found the gun and dope I had in the truck?" The answer is no, but we will definitely go get it now! And when you say over the phone that "they just messed with the wrong Honkey" you just may get yourself out of county jail and into federal prison for conducting criminal activities with a known gang.

Telling your buddy over the phone to "whisper because the Sheriff is listening" does not help because we can turn up the volume, and trying to go by a different name when talking on jail phones does not work because we have cameras in the jail. We can see who you are! So just be warned, when the voice on the phone says "this call may be recorded or monitored" it is!

Now here is a new piece of advice that we have not covered: if you think one of these funny stories in the newspaper was referring to you and makes you look stupid, do not call and complain about it because when you find out I was talking about someone else, you just became the second fugitive to call me on the phone and tell me where you were so we could bring you a complaint form.

Last week I talked to a person who has been in and out of jail for years for drug and theft crimes; but for the past year or so, has not had any dealings with law enforcement. This person said they had messed up a lot in their life and realized that if they had not been arrested and forced to stay away from the drugs for so long, they would still be headed down a path of destruction.

Instead they are working a full-time job, they have their kids back again, and have not touched any drugs in more than a year. It is not every day that someone you have arrested thanks you, and it is very encouraging to see that someone can emerge from a life of crime and overcome it.

When we see people walk out the door of the jail, we often never see them again; or when we do see them again it is because they are coming back into the jail. I often tell stories of people acting not so smart and getting themselves in trouble, but there are intelligent people out there who just make bad choices and given the right perspective, they make the choice of bettering their life instead of continuing down the wrong path.

Going to jail does not necessarily make someone foolish, but going to jail and then doing the same thing a second, third, and fourth time definitely makes someone foolish!