Sheriff Makes Case For More Officers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
From his first year as county sheriff, since being elected in 1998, to last year, Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine has seen the number of calls for service to his department increase by more than 18 percent.
But the department has added only two new merit officers (sworn officers with arrest powers) during that same period, and at least eight jail officers.
As for the number of jail officers, Rovenstine said Monday, "I think it's adequate. I think the Indiana State Jail Inspector, ... the number he gave to me was 25 and I think we have 22 assigned to that. We have two assigned to courthouse security. So we are a little short of what they recommended, but I think we are adequate."
It's the merit officers where the county needs more staff - more officers on road patrol and on the drug task force, and more detectives,
Rovenstine said.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department has 33 merit officers now, which included, among others, the sheriff, the chief deputy, detectives and the two officers added since Rovenstine took office. Those two officers - hired through Cops in Schools grant money, which expired last year, now are being funded by the county - were assigned to Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley schools, which really didn't increase the KCSD road patrol, except in the summer, when school is out.
Asked how many merit officers Rovenstine thinks he should have, he said, "I just think we need to add. I don't have a number. ... The guys are extremely busy."
For example, he said, in his first year in office, the department had 17,679 calls for service. Last year, they had 20,888 calls. That's an increase of 3,209 in approximately four years.
"In my first four years of my term, we haven't really added anything to the road patrol," Rovenstine said. "We've had an increase in accidents, we've had an increase in about everything, really. I guess that's why I think it's time to start addressing the needs for the road officers as we did the jail officers."
This year, the KCSD received a grant to hire two new road officers. In the first year, the county would have to pay only 25 percent of the two new officers' salaries, plus benefits; 50 percent the second year; and then 75 percent in the third year.
Rovenstine said he estimated the cost to the county for all three years to be approximately $150,000.
Last year, the county council approved for the KCSD to apply for the grants. However, this year, citing budget problems, the council decided at a budget hearing not to accept the grant monies. The council said if the county hired any more employees - regardless of department - none of the county employees would receive their $300 salary increase to offset the increase in employee insurance.
"The state has cut our (Economic Development Income Tax) and (County Option Income Tax) funding 10 percent this year, and that cut our budget hard," said Harold Jones, county council chairman, Monday. The county had to find some creative solutions to deal with those budget cuts and stay solvent. In the 12-13 years Jones said he has been on the council, the county never has had to deal with such drastic cuts.
However, Jones said, the council is still negotiating with Rovenstine to see if they can accept that grant for him. He and Rovenstine agreed that if they apply for a grant then decline it, that may affect whether or not the county receives grant money in the future. But, Jones said, when the county council told Rovenstine to apply for the grant, the council didn't expect the economic problems they now have.
"This is not only a one-year situation. That's why we're trying to look ahead" and work with Rovenstine to make his budget work so the county can accept the grant money, Jones said. Rovenstine said the county has until the end of September to accept the grant.
"If they give you something and you don't accept it," said Rovenstine, "they're probably not going to give it a second time. Surely it's going to affect the way they perceive us if they give us these grants and we say, 'No, we don't want it.'"
One source of money the county could look at to help pay for the two new officers is the approximate $160,000 the Indiana Department of Corrections owes the county for housing IDOC inmates.
"I would like for the council to think of it that way because we are dumping this DOC money for housing state prisoners and we are dumping the work release money back into the general fund, and it would be nice if they thought of it like that and thought about (earmarking) some of that back to law enforcement," said Rovenstine. "That's the way I'd like for them to think of that. They don't have to do that, there's nothing that says they have to do that. It's general fund money, they can do what they like with it, but we'd like for them to be aware of that fact and earmark some of it back to law enforcement."
"I don't anticipate the growth we've had," Jones said. He said he didn't think the next 20 years should see as much growth as the last 20 years. While growth may continue, he said, it should be rather steady.
"The way things are increasing, there's no trend it's decreasing," Rovenstine said. "I was asked last year about the jail population increase. If you look for the last 10 years, it's increased. The history is, it's going to increase. The history of our calls for service and our crime is probably going to increase with the population increase. You've got a more diversified population. You're in an economic downturn now. In the next three to four years, I can't imagine we won't need some help there."
Rovenstine said with the budget this year, he is trying to make the council aware of just how busy the sheriff's department is and that they do need some help out there.
Along with the increase in number of calls for service, Rovenstine said, the types of calls the KCSD is getting also are becoming more serious.
"I've got my drug unit division wanting more folks and they're doing a tremendous job. I think by the middle of this year, they had as many arrests as they did all of last year. ... That's a dangerous situation," Rovenstine said. "They're working very hard.
"I've got the detective division that wants more people. They're working very hard. Something like that bank robbery in Leesburg took our whole detective division. It probably took a month before they wrapped that all up with paperwork and working with the FBI, and that's our whole three-man detective division working on that. There's still folks getting their lawn mowers stolen, there's still folks doing all that. So they want folks, the road officers are working hard, they need some help." [[In-content Ad]]
From his first year as county sheriff, since being elected in 1998, to last year, Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine has seen the number of calls for service to his department increase by more than 18 percent.
But the department has added only two new merit officers (sworn officers with arrest powers) during that same period, and at least eight jail officers.
As for the number of jail officers, Rovenstine said Monday, "I think it's adequate. I think the Indiana State Jail Inspector, ... the number he gave to me was 25 and I think we have 22 assigned to that. We have two assigned to courthouse security. So we are a little short of what they recommended, but I think we are adequate."
It's the merit officers where the county needs more staff - more officers on road patrol and on the drug task force, and more detectives,
Rovenstine said.
The Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department has 33 merit officers now, which included, among others, the sheriff, the chief deputy, detectives and the two officers added since Rovenstine took office. Those two officers - hired through Cops in Schools grant money, which expired last year, now are being funded by the county - were assigned to Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley schools, which really didn't increase the KCSD road patrol, except in the summer, when school is out.
Asked how many merit officers Rovenstine thinks he should have, he said, "I just think we need to add. I don't have a number. ... The guys are extremely busy."
For example, he said, in his first year in office, the department had 17,679 calls for service. Last year, they had 20,888 calls. That's an increase of 3,209 in approximately four years.
"In my first four years of my term, we haven't really added anything to the road patrol," Rovenstine said. "We've had an increase in accidents, we've had an increase in about everything, really. I guess that's why I think it's time to start addressing the needs for the road officers as we did the jail officers."
This year, the KCSD received a grant to hire two new road officers. In the first year, the county would have to pay only 25 percent of the two new officers' salaries, plus benefits; 50 percent the second year; and then 75 percent in the third year.
Rovenstine said he estimated the cost to the county for all three years to be approximately $150,000.
Last year, the county council approved for the KCSD to apply for the grants. However, this year, citing budget problems, the council decided at a budget hearing not to accept the grant monies. The council said if the county hired any more employees - regardless of department - none of the county employees would receive their $300 salary increase to offset the increase in employee insurance.
"The state has cut our (Economic Development Income Tax) and (County Option Income Tax) funding 10 percent this year, and that cut our budget hard," said Harold Jones, county council chairman, Monday. The county had to find some creative solutions to deal with those budget cuts and stay solvent. In the 12-13 years Jones said he has been on the council, the county never has had to deal with such drastic cuts.
However, Jones said, the council is still negotiating with Rovenstine to see if they can accept that grant for him. He and Rovenstine agreed that if they apply for a grant then decline it, that may affect whether or not the county receives grant money in the future. But, Jones said, when the county council told Rovenstine to apply for the grant, the council didn't expect the economic problems they now have.
"This is not only a one-year situation. That's why we're trying to look ahead" and work with Rovenstine to make his budget work so the county can accept the grant money, Jones said. Rovenstine said the county has until the end of September to accept the grant.
"If they give you something and you don't accept it," said Rovenstine, "they're probably not going to give it a second time. Surely it's going to affect the way they perceive us if they give us these grants and we say, 'No, we don't want it.'"
One source of money the county could look at to help pay for the two new officers is the approximate $160,000 the Indiana Department of Corrections owes the county for housing IDOC inmates.
"I would like for the council to think of it that way because we are dumping this DOC money for housing state prisoners and we are dumping the work release money back into the general fund, and it would be nice if they thought of it like that and thought about (earmarking) some of that back to law enforcement," said Rovenstine. "That's the way I'd like for them to think of that. They don't have to do that, there's nothing that says they have to do that. It's general fund money, they can do what they like with it, but we'd like for them to be aware of that fact and earmark some of it back to law enforcement."
"I don't anticipate the growth we've had," Jones said. He said he didn't think the next 20 years should see as much growth as the last 20 years. While growth may continue, he said, it should be rather steady.
"The way things are increasing, there's no trend it's decreasing," Rovenstine said. "I was asked last year about the jail population increase. If you look for the last 10 years, it's increased. The history is, it's going to increase. The history of our calls for service and our crime is probably going to increase with the population increase. You've got a more diversified population. You're in an economic downturn now. In the next three to four years, I can't imagine we won't need some help there."
Rovenstine said with the budget this year, he is trying to make the council aware of just how busy the sheriff's department is and that they do need some help out there.
Along with the increase in number of calls for service, Rovenstine said, the types of calls the KCSD is getting also are becoming more serious.
"I've got my drug unit division wanting more folks and they're doing a tremendous job. I think by the middle of this year, they had as many arrests as they did all of last year. ... That's a dangerous situation," Rovenstine said. "They're working very hard.
"I've got the detective division that wants more people. They're working very hard. Something like that bank robbery in Leesburg took our whole detective division. It probably took a month before they wrapped that all up with paperwork and working with the FBI, and that's our whole three-man detective division working on that. There's still folks getting their lawn mowers stolen, there's still folks doing all that. So they want folks, the road officers are working hard, they need some help." [[In-content Ad]]