County Initiates Program To Hold Juveniles Overnight
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
A new Kosciusko County juvenile holdover service is going on line in early December.
The cooperative program between county agencies will free county and city officers from watching juveniles who have been detained.
The list of participants reads like a Who's Who of law enforcement and social services agencies.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, city of Warsaw Police Department, the Kosciusko County Probation Department, Kosciusko County Division of Family and Children Services, and Bowen Center are cooperating in the new juvenile holdover service.
The program is designed to serve runaways and curfew violaters waiting for parents to pick them up. It would also be used for nonviolent juvenile felons (for example, shoplifters) and juveniles awaiting transportation to detention facilities.
"We are looking forward to it as a release for our guys from babysitting duties, to get them back out on the road," said Sheriff Al Rovenstine.
The program fills a void that can keep city and county officers away from their patrols.
The juveniles will be held in the training room in the basement of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
"If we find a runaway whose parents are from, say, Kentucky, we have no way to keep the kids until the parents arrive," Rovenstine said.
Right now, the sheriff's department keeps juveniles in the lobby or office area until they can be picked up or transported to other detention facilities. The new program will provide more supervision for the youths. "This way, someone will be with them all the time," said Rovenstine.
The Bowen Center will provide on-call staff from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. seven days a week to respond to the sheriff's department dispatcher.
"They did something like this in Columbia City, and they are doing it in other places around the country," said Kurt Carlson, Bowen Center director.
Officials say the service will prove useful in cases where an out-of-state runaway is found. Parents are often hard to locate in the evening hours and the Bowen staff member would stay with juvenile until parents arrive or probation arrangements can be made.
Carlson said the center has primary coverage for every day of the week, but backup coverage only for weekdays. They want to wait until they have backup coverage for the weekend before they go on line with the project, he said.
Bowen Center employees will not be responsible for physically restraining the juveniles from leaving the holdover area. Escape is to be discouraged, but the sheriff's department will respond in difficult situations.
If more than two juveniles are in holdover on a given evening a second Bowen Center staff member will be contacted.
Officials hope the program will be started before Dec. 1.
Each party involved has specific duties to fulfill during the pilot phase of the program. The program is scheduled for review at three months and at six months from its initiation. [[In-content Ad]]
A new Kosciusko County juvenile holdover service is going on line in early December.
The cooperative program between county agencies will free county and city officers from watching juveniles who have been detained.
The list of participants reads like a Who's Who of law enforcement and social services agencies.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, city of Warsaw Police Department, the Kosciusko County Probation Department, Kosciusko County Division of Family and Children Services, and Bowen Center are cooperating in the new juvenile holdover service.
The program is designed to serve runaways and curfew violaters waiting for parents to pick them up. It would also be used for nonviolent juvenile felons (for example, shoplifters) and juveniles awaiting transportation to detention facilities.
"We are looking forward to it as a release for our guys from babysitting duties, to get them back out on the road," said Sheriff Al Rovenstine.
The program fills a void that can keep city and county officers away from their patrols.
The juveniles will be held in the training room in the basement of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
"If we find a runaway whose parents are from, say, Kentucky, we have no way to keep the kids until the parents arrive," Rovenstine said.
Right now, the sheriff's department keeps juveniles in the lobby or office area until they can be picked up or transported to other detention facilities. The new program will provide more supervision for the youths. "This way, someone will be with them all the time," said Rovenstine.
The Bowen Center will provide on-call staff from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. seven days a week to respond to the sheriff's department dispatcher.
"They did something like this in Columbia City, and they are doing it in other places around the country," said Kurt Carlson, Bowen Center director.
Officials say the service will prove useful in cases where an out-of-state runaway is found. Parents are often hard to locate in the evening hours and the Bowen staff member would stay with juvenile until parents arrive or probation arrangements can be made.
Carlson said the center has primary coverage for every day of the week, but backup coverage only for weekdays. They want to wait until they have backup coverage for the weekend before they go on line with the project, he said.
Bowen Center employees will not be responsible for physically restraining the juveniles from leaving the holdover area. Escape is to be discouraged, but the sheriff's department will respond in difficult situations.
If more than two juveniles are in holdover on a given evening a second Bowen Center staff member will be contacted.
Officials hope the program will be started before Dec. 1.
Each party involved has specific duties to fulfill during the pilot phase of the program. The program is scheduled for review at three months and at six months from its initiation. [[In-content Ad]]