I'm now I'm for community connection right here on K one the one you trust being brought to you by Wesley and Kitty College and also Tall Grass Motors. Sheriff Scott Owen is with us here today and Sheriff, I understand that night of prayer was a doozy last night.
It was I tended to do with my wife and very very pleased with the out comfort and it was just.
A good message and much needed.
Let's yeah, boy, I tell you we were living in some trying times.
I was very impressed that they put a lot of effort in it and had a lot of really good speakers.
Very good. You've been busy with a lot of things. I know the rain kind of kept you hopping there for a little bit earlier this week.
Yeah, it seems like the monsoon season is upon us and we've we've had I've been out on patrol with the guys as an extra unit some when trying to help them chase their calls and get where they need to coordinate with the County Commissioner's road crews about barrick age and high water. We were fortunate that we had two calls that I know of of cars in the water well way three counting one by Vera. Fortunately no
one injured. Good, no fatalities, Thank god. Don't get out of the car, turn around, don't drown.
That's right. You know. I lost a friend who always preached, never get out of that vehicle. If you find yourself in a situation that comes upon you before you see it. What did he do? Got out of that vehicle? Took him and it just happens. So you've got to be careful. A lot of people don't realize it, but floods take more lives than just about any other weather things.
They really do, Yeah, they really do. Traffic accidents are bad, but drowning, they say, is one of the highest causes of death and people involved in incidents across the nation.
Wow, it's just crazy.
It's only before you know it.
Yeah, we've got a lot of things going on. Busy summer, don't you. And it starts like hearing about a week.
It seems like we're getting there. We've got well just coming up here in about a week. We didn't talk about this, but Trick County Technology Centers having their career Pharaoh made the ninth We're going to have a Washington County Sheriff's Department booth set up for the students that may have an interest in public safety, law enforcement, or contention career, and we'll have that staff with some handouts,
some applications, people to ask them questions. A large number of my staff, especially on the attention side, our younger people fresh out of high school or college, because I'm allowed to utilize eighteen year olds in that facility in that job description, and I really have a good group of young people working for me this time.
Wow, that's great. You know, we think of law enforcement. We think of the tenured, the journeyman, and the veteran, and yeah, things like that. It's nice to know you've got young people coming up to fill some boots in.
The years and we're becoming I think we're starting to become successful and get ahead of that eight ball that we went through here a few years ago with the defund the police campaigns and nobody wanted to be in law enforcement. And uh, we've been able to actually move several of our young detention staff into police officer certification and into field training and preparing them for shift assignment on road patrol or transport division. So we like to
draw from within. It's kind of like going to work and the mail room and working your way out of the mail room. Yeah, and it can be done. It can be done, and we're proving that. We're very fortunate it allowed me to move on my trolling out to an investigator's position. And we're very proud of will Gerhart. He graduated the OSBI Criminal Investigation Academy yesterday.
Nice, he's got.
Another accolade under his belt. We're proud of him there. And we have two current jail supervisors that are in the Bartlesville B Park Academy, which is a basic a police academy that is hosted and operated by the Bartisville Police Department in conjunction with Tri County Tech's Public Safety Training program right here in town.
So you have to ship people halfway across the state to get them ready to go anymore.
So we utilize both services. But we've got that going.
Like I said the career Fair, my reserve program is started to grow a little bit. I've got about a dozen reserve deputies nice and they are their first big spring assignment is going to be the Delaware Pow Wow. We work that every year for all three days Emergency Management will set up their command trailer and we'll have everything in that commendator that we haven't dispatched, basically, And.
You know, that's a great celebration up there. It really is.
And if you haven't attended a lot of people, you haven't attended one, I'd urge you to go because it's it's a real tribute to to people's heritage in this area. It is, and it's it's our pleasure to work with him and honor and be a part of that program.
So we'll be doing that.
SunFest is coming up first week last weekend, my first weekend, and so to speak, we'll be out there with a booth.
You all anxirey teams. We tried to you're usually pretty close to us.
Yep, we'll be there. I'll be there all weekend pretty much, off and on.
So here now.
Looking forward to that, actually me too, so but we're doing that. We've got had a lot going on in the jail. Of course, our jail is now I believe they're not fifteen years old. It seems it doesn't look that seems like yesterday. Well that's because got a really good jail staff and I've got a really good maintenance staff that are proactive in nature.
They watch for things going wrong.
We have we've had to do a lot, but fortunately we've been blessed with the funding to take care of everything. There you go and pretty much every pod downer has been gone through, things like electrical and lighting, plumbing, things of that nature. A lot of new replacements and painting. So it basically is a fifteen year old jail that looks about like a one year old jail.
You know, the cosmetics and the mechanical is fine, but you know what you're doing with the jail that a lot of people are talking about. You're making sure that they say, yeah, I was there, nothing against the folks, but I don't want to go back. You've got some great programs that are changing the recipitism.
Yes we do.
My jail administrator, James Pendergrave, he my lieutenant in the jail, is we have him, and I have added a second assistant jail administrator, so Terry Woods. He's former sheriff's deputy, former Barsvill police. He came back to me is now one of my assistant jail administrators. Is is Mitch Doyle, who has operated the inmate work Crew for years and worked in the jail and commissary in the kitchen down there. Those three men are instrumental and making a lot of
changes in major support for me in that area. And I can't say thank you to those men enough. But we have educational programs, ged programs, re entry programs, jail ministry programs, all those things, and it's primarily because these men pushed that envelope and make it happen.
One of the things you've got is like a parenting class too.
We have a parenting class.
To guide them so that they're their kids don't follow a generational change.
Well that and it also if mom or dad has been in custody for a while, they will they have to re enter society, have to re enter the family unit. And some of them may be in there for drugs and may be in for family offenses or things of that nature. Some may be in for simple child support for a long term and behalf some of those. But the goal is to preserve the family unit and make
it easier for them to get in. We've had some multiple success stories where we run into our former customers that in society when they're out, and I have found them in various jobs that they've landed and being quighly successful. One comes to mind. He stayed with us for a while and then went to doc came back. First thing he did was to look us up, tell us thank you. And then he got a job in a car a house, enrolled in college, gotting derries and that is guy, a real job in the field he wants.
To work in.
Wow, it's great. I know another one of your guys that I went through the system came out a change man, now owns a business and hires people here in town. You got a legitimate that's.
Just because the business, just because a person makes a mistake.
This is not the end.
It could be the beginning of God opening another door for him.
That's exactly what happened to him as a star back.
So that makes me feel good about that. We've got car show in October. Doesn't seem like it's right on us, but it will be right on us.
That summer goes by so fast.
Yeah, we're we're prepared, starting to prepare for that, starting some couple of fundraising projects.
And I took you a look at the forecast for October. It's not going to rain this time.
Thank goodness.
So we will.
Yeah, a couple of fundraisers, if I might mention June the I believe it's June to seventh. The Masonic Lodge Fraternity will be hosting Art Sheriff Reserve Benefit Breakfast for the purpose of Christmas funding and Thanksgiving funding. Same way with the Eagles. They're gonna have us a bingo for that. The car show kind of works its own.
Deal, but these others are great reminders that you can have fun while raising funds.
Yeah we can. We were last year.
I don't quote me, but I believe we had one hundred and either one hundred and twenty three or one hundred and forty three cars enter our car show.
Oh wow, and they were some very nice ones.
Every time I've been to there, it's been just a knockout. You're amazed at just how well preserved some of them are, and then how well enhanced the rest of them are.
Well, yeah, or both, and then you get the guys that just love to enhance those rat rods and bring them.
It gets going on this weekend to do it.
So, yeah, we'll get a little preview up there so with the Sheriff's office, So you guys are full tilt heading into summer. Uh. Also summer, you know, it gets busy for all law enforcement. It's because people are out. Folks are driving, maybe going a little bit further distances than what they did during the colder months. Yeah, they gotta be careful out there more than just them on the road.
Well, that's true.
And you know with the there's several things, especially in rural areas, that I'd like to remind the people to watch out for. Is the grass is gonna be growing, Okay, all the ranchers are gonna be processing. Hey, you're gonna have slow moving egg vehicles on the road. Usually the alcohol consumption goes up, so our a restorations will go up some probably, uh in that area. What we want to do is reinforce the fact that if you're going to be doing that, know your limit and always designated driver.
Yeah, it's it's key. Yeah.
The last figures I saw, if one would be getting arrested for a DUI, time you finish with while your fins your costs, your insurance increases, schools you have to go to in driver's license reinstatements, things and such. Probably about ten thousand dollars on the low end.
Yeah, not really worth one night out on the town.
Unless you're risking your life and anybody else's out there. So it's been a good year. I've this year started my beginning, my second term elected second term, and I look forward to being here through twenty nine. And as we get there, I'll decide if I want to keep them on working and dry for another term or hand the torch to someone else.
One other thing, Scott, summertime we see some problems with drugs too, and it seems like they're a little bit more noticed in the summertime. I know that drug abuse happens twenty five, but we see it, Yeah, a.
Lot more we do. And you hit the nail on the head.
There's a lot of our homeless community oftentimes falls into that, and they're always out and in view, and if they do come across that or become involved partaking there, any bizarre behavior will cause an encounter. Sometimes it's easy, other times it's not.
So.
One thing that.
You know it's being addressed along the line of the homeless is Barslow's got a ongoing program and in conjunction with Grand Mental Health and Commune resources that they're interacting and have a homeless project going where they monitor them, try to help them get them pointed the right way.
They just assigned another young officer who required to go out into the county occasionally, so we have had a local agreement with them, and we actually cross commission deputized him to work outside the city with us and for US regarding homeless issues. So we're having a cooperative effort
with Bartlestviell Police Grand Mental Health. We have an agreement with Grant in our jail, so we actually have staffing for treatment and those inmates that used to require treatment didn't lose their treatment when they if they get sentenced to a jail term or something.
I know that Washington County Emergency Management was working on enhancing even further our nine to one one keep abilities. You've got any update on that one, because I know that'll kind of everybody.
That is always an ongoing thing. It's ever changing. The funding always changes, the rules change, the technology changes, the way we work all the time. Well, right about a perfect example right here the technology change. This is one of the refurbished, like brand new eight hundred Megahurtz radios that we talked to the nine on one Center with Bartlesville was the first department to get on complements of Phillips Petroleum in their Community Involvement Unit. Wow special thanks
to Jinny Brown. They provided my department fifty handheld radios and a half a dozen mobile radios, and there were probably more coming. I will be purchasing some on top of that. But that eight hundred system is the system that is very clear. It puts us in command constant communication with Bartlesville. We can also visitor on the radio, coordinate efforts to mutilate, assist with no water that we
weren't able to do before highway patrol. And I can't say thanks enough to Jinny Brown and Conico Phillips.
Wow. They I understand they're a very good community partner. There weren't some parts of the county where we'd have some drop out as far there are and but now these things covered off well.
Almost they if there are a couple of places that have a deficiency, but if that one doesn't.
Work, and they're usually very low lying areas.
Where you don't have a line of sight of repeater that we're working with Captain Hastings and Dave with the Phillips to identify the problems and enhance the tower locations if possible, probably working with some of the other counties in Kansas to give us better coverage up north.
Things of that nature.
But we we appreciate our community supporters and couldn't do without them, I'll tell.
You, Sheriffauldsow is a pleasure to have you in. Thanks for covid by and visiting.
It's been a nice visit. We could probably talk all day.
We could, I know we could. We've done it, folks. You've been watching and listening to our community connections.
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