Annual Department Report

                                                                                                                

Noble County Sheriff’s Office 2020 Annual Report

 

2020 presented many challenges to the Noble County Sheriff’s Office due to the COVID-19 virus.  Due to the nature of law enforcement being essential personnel, our doors remained open and officers continued to take calls while trying to follow the CDC guidelines for a safe work environment. The Noble County Sheriff’s Office operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a dedicated staff of approximately 65 full time employees, 7 part-time employees and 9 reserve deputies.

 

Patrol Summary:

 The Sheriff’s Office has 21 full-time officers which includes the Sheriff and two part-time deputies.  The assignment for those officers is as follows:

  • Sheriff
  • Chief Deputy
  • 2 Road Patrol Sergeants
  • 4 Detectives (1 Lieutenant, 2 Detective Sergeants and 1 Narcotic Detective Sergeant assigned to the DEA task force in Fort Wayne).
  • 13 Deputies assigned to patrol duties and other tasks (1 deputy serves as the lead crime scene technician).

 

The Sheriff’s Deputies also conduct walk throughs and work part-time as School Resource Officers at Wayne Center, Rome City, and Avilla Schools.

 

The breakdown in activity for 2020 is as follows:

                              Total Criminal Cases:  750

                              Drug Arrests:  108

                              Criminal Misdemeanor Arrests:  382

                             Criminal Felony Arrests: 177

                             Sex offenses investigated:  53    

                             Total Crashes Investigated:  591

                             Property Damage Crashes Investigated:  487

                             Personal Injury Crashes Investigated:  99

                             Fatal Crashes Investigated:  5

                             Total Injuries Reported:  140

                             Total Fatalities Reported:  7

                             Traffic Summons Issued:  1,100

                             Traffic Warnings Issued:  1,812

                             Special Project Traffic Summons Issued:  185

                             Special Project Traffic Warnings Issued:  551

                             Persons Arrested for OWI:  94

                             Off Duty Assists:  50

                             Warrants Served:  173

                             Court Processed Served:  2,908

                             Miles Driven by patrol units:  346,001

                             Sheriff Sales:  10 (Handled by Lieberman Technology, significantly reduced due to COVID)

 

Noble County Sheriff Reserves:

  • There were 9 reserve officers working for the Sheriff’s Department in 2020.
  • The reserve officers volunteered a total of 1,380-man hours in 2020 which is down from 2019 due to the COVID-19 virus.
  • The reserve officers work primarily on weekends along with the merit deputies assisting with regular patrol duties, transports, traffic direction, crash investigation, and other functions.

 

 

 

Jail Division:

  • Work Release: Work Release allows offenders to return to the work force under the supervision of a Work Release Coordinator, to acclimate them back into society and to provide for their families.  In 2020 a total of 37 inmates participated in the program. $74,225.00 in program fees was turned into the general fund.  This is a decrease of $27,892.00 from 2019. The Work Release Maintenance Fund collected $6,911.00 which is also a decrease of $75.00 from 2019.  In 2020, the program had a total of 8 inmates violated, 8 disciplinary hearings held, 6 inmates were permanently removed from the work release program, 4 failed drug screens, 3 instances of lying to a staff member, 1 unaccountable time, 1 disobeying a direct order, 1 in possession of unauthorized item, and 1 being in an unauthorized area without permission. The coordinator also continued with random drug testing with successful results and had added responsibilities of installing and monitoring inmate GPS anklets.
  • Inmates: There were a total of 1664 persons booked into the Noble County Jail facility in 2020 which is an increase of 169 intakes from 2019.  This was a total of 1,234 males and 430 females booked into the facility for 2020.
  • ADP: The average daily inmate population (ADP) for 2020 was 134 for 2020.  This was the same ADP in 2019.  The female ADP was 27 which is the same as the year before and the male ADP for 2020 was 107 which also was the same in 2019. 
  • The average length of stay for a person incarcerated in the Noble County Jail was 18 days, 8 hours. This is a decrease from 2019, which was 26 days and 10 hours.
  • The top three bookings for incarcerations were for possession of illegal drugs, Driving Under the Influence, and Drug paraphernalia. There were 255 individuals booked for drug or narcotic violations, 179 individuals booked for DUI and 106 booked for possession of paraphernalia. Other bookings include 101 for battery and domestic battery, 23 bookings for disorderly conduct and 13 bookings for weapons violations.
  • There was 1 juvenile in custody of the Noble County Jail who was waived to adult court. This juvenile was in custody of the Noble County Jail on one separate occasion for two hours and then released on bond.
  • The Noble County Jail has two full time transport offices with the work release coordinator transporting on a part-time basis as needed. Due to the COVID virus, transports in 2020 were down by 1,051 with only 493 transports being done, which accounted for 34,631 miles driven. There were 9,996 less miles driven by transport in 2020.
  • There were 1,343 video courts conducted in 2020 which saw a decrease of 213 from the previous year of 2019.
  • There was a total of $241,560.62 collected and deposited back into the general fund for housing Department of Corrections inmates. This is a decrease of $114,685.00. The revenue collected, does not reflect the revenue collected from housing out of county inmates.
  • In 2019 the Noble County Jail began housing Federal inmates for the US Marshals Office. The Noble County Jail began receiving Federal inmates during the last quarter of 2019 with a total of $54,500.00 being collected during this period. In 2020, a total of $365,638.69 was collected and deposited back into the general fund.
  • Reimbursements for local inmate medical co-pay totaled $5,402.70 while medical reimbursement for federal inmates was $6050.43 for 2020.
  • The Social Security Administration Inmate Incentive Payment Program resulted in $2,200.00 being returned to the County General Fund.
  • There were Zero (0) in-custody deaths in 2020.
  • The jail was upgraded to a 270-bed facility in 2020.

 

 

The Noble County Jail offers several on site programs and services for the incarcerated offenders which include:

  • Alcoholics Anonymous for Men and Women – Meetings are held weekly and the service is at no cost to the department or offender.
  • YWCA Battered Women’s Group – This program is offered free of charge to the female population and is provided for by the YWCA. Meetings are held weekly and the program addresses spousal battery and parenting skill development.
  • Jail Chaplains – The Sheriff’s Office has two (2) ministers on staff that provide for the needs of the offender. Both ministers are on call 24/7 and provide regular visits to the facility in addition to worship services twice a month.  This service is provided at a cost of $20.00 per hour.
  • Visiting Clergy/Community Ministerial – Several churches provide printed religious materials and visiting clergy from different denominations are allowed into the facility.
  • HSE – High School Equivalency is a budgeted line item for the department. The program offers class instruction and preparation for the HSE test.  
  • Before 5 Parenting classes – This program works with young offenders with children to gain better parenting and coping skills.
  • Kick the Addiction – A counselor comes to the facility to speak with inmates to discuss addiction, either drugs or alcohol and attempts to find programs for the offenders upon release.

Note: These programs had to be put on hold due to the COVID-19 virus to ensure the safety of incarcerated individuals and jail staff.

Additional Jail Information:

  • Continuous maintenance repairs were made on a monthly basis to make sure the

facility remains functional for years to come.

  • Drainage around the facility was fixed so water would properly flow toward the retention pond area. Also, a drain was added to the top of the basement ramp to catch overflow from the parking lot to help with flooding issues in the basement.
  • Installed UV lights in the air handlers to help combat the COVID-19 virus.
  • A body scanner was purchased using the CAREs grant money.
  • Purchased a new restraint system called the “WRAP”.
  • Rebuilt the generator with all new gaskets and turbos.
  • Replaced the range top on the kitchen oven.
  • Purchased two new transport vans.

Communications Division (E-911):

  • Calls for service in 2019 were 54,266 and jumped to 58,342 in 2020. An increase of 4,076.
  • There were 16,315 911 calls received.
  • The Communications Center is currently staffed by 14 full time dispatchers which include the E-911 Director and the Assistant E-911 Director. The Communications Center also has 6 part-time dispatchers and is currently running at full staff.

Courthouse Security:

  • 53,596 people were screened through the metal detector coming into the courthouse. This is down 26,781 people from 2019, which had 80,377 people walk through the detector. This is contributed to the courthouse being shut down due to COVID-19 virus and by having people report by appointment only.
  • 32 people were taken into custody which is down from 43 people in 2019.
  • 55 people were taken into custody on warrants which is also down from 90 people in 2019. This too is contributed to the COVID-19 virus and the courthouse being closed to appointment only.
  • Covered the courts for 51 bench and jury trials and responded to 13 false alarms.

Conclusion:

The COVID-19 virus presented many challenges to the officers assigned to the Noble County Sheriff’s Department.  Some of our numbers were up while others were down.  With the added time off due to extra days given to employees by the county commissioners for the COVID virus coverage for shifts was our number one priority, for both road coverage as well as jail coverage.  As essential personnel, our doors could not close, and officers stepped up to make sure open shifts were covered.  When it was all said and done, the Noble County Sheriff’s Department fulfilled the mission of providing services to the citizens of Noble County while still returning approximately $692,447.07 back to the general fund from housing inmates and unused money from budgeted line items.

                                                                                                                               

                               

                                                                                                                                Respectfully Submitted,

                                                                                                                                          Max C. Weber,

Noble County Sheriff