What if you accept a new job but decide you don't like it? What if you give someone a job but he can't quite get the hang of it?

With a new program being undertaken at the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, both sides get a taste of what's available through the detective division.

Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine implemented the program in February, with Deputy Travis Marsh being the first officer to complete it. Marsh worked with Detective Sgts. Tom Brindle and Sam Whitaker, helping to solve some of the minor crimes being investigated by the department. The program, for which any road officers could sign up, brings the deputy off the road and into office and community as a plainclothes detective.

The department and other detectives benefit by having more contact with victims and getting a chance to have lesser cases investigated more quickly; the deputy benefits by gaining experience and learning whether detective work is something he may want to pursue in the future.

The program "serves many purposes," Brindle said. "Anyone interested in going into the detective division gets experience and is not walking in stone cold."

The benefits to both sides are, overall, an asset to the community.

Four deputies have signed on for the program and will serve a month at a time on a rotating basis throughout the year.

"We have some very outstanding young officers that have ability in this area," Rovenstine said. "I was just looking over paperwork from the first month and [the program] has bore good fruit already." He said three felony cases were solved and two other matters resolved.

Marsh said he can take the knowledge he gained from working as a detective back onto the road and it will help him turn in better reports as a patrolman. "There were small details that I missed before," Marsh said. "I believe I will be more astute now."

Among the duties Marsh assumed as a "detective in training" were establishing contacts, following up on leads, interviewing complainants and suspects, obtaining statements from people associated with the crime and filing proper paperwork.

Also, the deputy serving as detective "is called out at night with the detectives to learn what it's like," said Brindle. "It's a different world in here than it is on the road. This gives us the opportunity to evaluate the guys and help them."

While deputies tend to keep busy taking a variety of calls while assigned to road patrol, serving as detective "was a different kind of busy," Marsh said. "There was always something that needed to be followed up on."

Brindle said he appreciates having help since he and Whitaker are the department's only two detectives - the same number the department has employed since 1978. KCSD had about 1,200 FBI reportable crimes during 1998 and, working about 285 days per year, Brindle said, "doesn't leave much time. We basically need to solve five or six a day to keep up."

Rovenstine said he plans to ask the Kosciusko County Council for an allowance in his 2000 budget to hire another detective. [[In-content Ad]]