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Sheriff Dobey addresses County Council for additional deputies

web posted Apri 19, 2006

EDGEFIELD – The Edgefield County Council held a Fiscal Year 2006-2007 on Tuesday night at the Edgefield County Council Chambers. Administrator Wayne Adams said the budget, as presented, was balanced at a total of $7,838,642. Sheriff Adell Dobey and Captain Chris Wash attended the work session as well to present the Council with the Sheriff’s original budget request that included the addition of four Deputies.

Sheriff Dobey told the County Council, “I am requesting four Deputies that I badly need.” One of the main reasons for the increase in personnel is directly related to the increase in “calls to service” the Sheriff’s Office has seen over the past year. With the recent growth in population, and the acknowledgement of several new developments, additional population increases the call load for officers.

Sheriff Dobey explained that most days there are only two Deputies per shift to handle the calls which results in longer wait times for citizens in need and prevents his Office from operating with proactive law enforcement rather than reactionary.

In the past Edgefield County had nine State Troopers working the county and that has been reduced to three that work three counties. Their presence places a greater load on the Sheriff’s Office to respond to traffic calls such as reckless drivers and collisions the Deputies ordinarily would not have worked in the past.

In addition, overtime could be reduced with the additional Deputies. Off-duty officers would not need to be called out in the present numbers to handle situations that arise, such as the recent rash of suspects running from police and bloodhounds being called out and a perimeter being manned.

Provided to the County Council was a study of comparative counties in relation to size, tax base, and population. In every category, Edgefield County lagged behind other counties by over three deputies. The average for counties in the study showed 22.33 deputies attending to the day-to-day duties of patrol officers and Edgefield County has 19.

 When compared to similar counties per 100 square miles Edgefield County has 3.77 Deputies compared to an average of 4.61 in other counties. Compared in population per 100 citizens Edgefield County registered .76 deputies compared to .84 in other counties.

Sheriff Dobey pointed out that he is in close contact with most Sheriff’s in the state and the ones cited in the report content they too are understaffed which would also affect the numbers of deputies.

Councilman Everett Kitchens asked if the additional deputies would offset the number of overtime hours presently worked by the Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Dobey said it would alleviate a good portion of it, however; “things happen where additional manpower is needed and that always drives overtime hours up,” Sheriff Dobey said. An example of such a situation is the first murder of the year that happened on February 21 of this year when a massive manhunt for a killer got underway.

Administrator Adams suggested one additional deputy would bring the Sheriff’s Office in line with one area of the study and suggested cuts could provide for the single additional deputy.

Councilman Kitchens asked if one deputy would suffice to which Sheriff Dobey responded, “One is better than none”. However, Sheriff Dobey stated to properly cover the county as it should be would take an additional 12 deputies, “I’m just asking for four,” he said. The problem with the lack of manpower was the fact that for the preceding fifteen years, “no additional personnel were added,” Sheriff Dobey said. He explained that his Office is trying to play catch up to the present population.

The cost of adding two deputies was suggested and it was said that two could be added with no additional taxes with other suggested cuts in other areas. To add the additional two deputies would raise taxes on a $100,000 home a total of $8.

The County Council accepted the idea of two additional deputies but denied the other two not wanting to raise taxes.

The budget presented by Sheriff Dobey also included replacing six patrol cars that have exceeded the suggested mileage for a patrol car. The patrol cars were accepted as well, though later the County Council suggested perhaps Sheriff Dobey could retain one of the cars and replace only five.

A broader report on the budget matters will be presented on Thursday.
 

 

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