BENTON – Major David Maddox presented the Fiscal Court Tuesday with the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office Annual Report.
“We thought it was important to let you know what we’ve done for the past year, but also how we did it and who did it”, Maddox said in summarizing the report. “We’re very proud to provide services to the this county, our visitors to this county and I think our department sets a standard in this area and across the state among agencies that are our size and we’re very proud of that.”
The 55-page document sets out the Mission Statement of the Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Kevin Byars then continues with statistics from 2015 and information on the various divisions from Administration, Patrol, Investigations, Court Security and Office/Clerical.
The office had 33 employees in 2015 and are responsible for an area of approximately 300 square miles with over 900 miles of roadways. According to the US Census Bureau 2010 estimate, the county has 31,448 citizens.
In 2015, Marshall County E-911 dispatched the Sheriff’s Office to 14,546 calls for service. Just a few of their 36 different types of calls for service included 601 traffic crashes without injury, 222 traffic crashes with injury, 315 motorist assists, 381 non-domestic disturbances, 169 domestic disturbances, 544 follow-up investigations, 381 burglar alarms, 1,019 traffic stops and 542 suspicious person or vehicles.
Deputies opened 571 investigations during this time resulting in individuals charged with 1,446 offences. Patrol Officers served 933 civil papers, 85 criminal summons and 363 warrants.
The Investigations Division is under the direction of Detective Lieutenant Matt Hilbrecht who made 161 Calls for Service, investigated 51 cases in 2015 which led to 14 felony arrests and three juveniles charged in General Investigations
Detective Sergeant Tim Reynolds had 363 Calls for Service, investigated 55 cases which resulted in 16 felony arrests, one misdemeanor arrest and 1 traffic citation in General Investigations.
Narcotics Detective Sergeant Kevin Mighell had 158 Calls for Service and Detective Don Tidwell 173. Mighell investigated 81 cases in 2015 that resulted in 27 felony arrests, four misdemeanor arrests and three traffic violations. Tidell investigated 112 cases and as a result made 56 felony arrests, 1 misdemeanor arrest and one traffic violation.
The Clandestine Methamphetamine Lab Technicians from the Sheriff’s Office cleaned up 11 labs during 2015.
In 2015, Court Security Officers attended 546 sessions of court, moved 972 inmates to and from court, made 272 out of county transports and inspected 2,292 vehicles.
Special Programs include the Special Response Team SWAT unit which conducted 176 hours of training in 2015 which includes all tactical issues from firearms, room and building entry, waterborne operations, vehicle operations, physical training and testing, less lethal weapons and active shooter. They conducted eight operations in 2015.
Other Special Programs include the Crash Reconstruction Team, Highway Safety Program, DARE and Marine and Off-Road Patrol.