Press Releases > 2011 Report to Commissioners

2011 Report to Commissioners

2/8/2012 3:48:28 PM

To: Transylvania County Commissioners, County Manager

From: Sheriff David A. Mahoney

Date: January 23, 2012

Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office 2011 Report

It is with great honor that I present to you the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office 2011 Report. My office has worked diligently to provide the highest quality and most professional law enforcement services to the citizens of our county. As you will see, we have had a busy, yet productive year. You will see from our statistics and the information that I provide to you that demand for our services is ever increasing. It is the goal of the Sheriff’s Office to meet this demand with integrity, professionalism, fairness, and respect. I look forward to working with each of you and the citizens of Transylvania County during 2012. Thank you for the honor of serving as your sheriff.

Sincerely,

David A. Mahoney

Detention:

We saw an extremely busy year in our detention center. Our staff processed 2,114 inmates into the jail during the year. Detention staff served 790 criminal warrants and completed 610 in county prisoner transports and 177 out of county prisoner transports. We were in a fortunate position to be able to house a number of inmates from Cabarrus County for most of the calendar year. That contract generated approximately $300,000 in revenue for our county. In addition to that, our detention staff supervised the Inmate Work Crew. This crew of sentenced inmates completed projects for various county departments as well as performing maintenance and cleaning duties within the detention facility. The combined effort of this crew saved the county $176,675.25 in tax payer dollars. In late summer, following the passage of the Justice Reinvestment Act, we began aggressively pursuing the possibility of housing state sentenced misdemeanants. That hard work and pre-planning was rewarded when Transylvania County, along with 11 other counties, was selected as a pilot program for the statewide effort. A number of staff members attended training preparing us to house the additional inmates. I am excited about this opportunity as it has the potential to bring in a substantial amount of revenues with very little added expense.

Patrol:

With just four officers per shift, you can imagine how busy the patrol division can get answering calls for service. Even with the addition of two deputies that work alternating 2:00pm to 2:00am schedules, the demands on these officers can be overwhelming. 14,251 calls for service in 2011 consumed 16,557 man hours. In addition to answering those calls, the patrol division served 1,968 warrants, wrote 881 incident reports and made 784 arrests for felonies and misdemeanors. Each patrol deputy is responsible for 76 square miles, 6,618 citizens and 3,833 households.

Criminal Investigations:

Our investigators stayed busy as well with over 650 new cases assigned. Each investigator carries an average caseload of 93 cases. In addition to those cases, our investigators pull double duty in many instances. One investigator is also responsible for all evidence, one is also responsible for coordinating all departmental training, and one is also responsible for domestic violence and sexual assault investigations and participates on the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Two investigators are assigned to the Transylvania Narcotics Task Force (TNT). This task force is charged with investigating drug related crimes in Transylvania County.

Civil:

Our Civil Division has seen an incredible amount of growth in their workload. With just two full-time officers assigned to the civil division, the amount of work to complete at times seems impossible. With statutory deadlines and guidelines, the Civil Division is one of the highest liability areas within the Sheriff’s Office. The two-man Civil Division, with the help of part-time staff and one volunteer working near full time hours, served 3,579 papers in 2011.

School Resource Officer:

Our School Resource Officers continue to be a valuable asset to our county. As part of the overall objective to making our schools a safe environment to learn, SROs taught 445 classes, wrote 98 incident reports, made 189 home visits, made 2,858 student contacts, made 1,034 parent contacts, filed 83 juvenile petitions, made 205 other agency referrals, and made 37 arrests. In addition to these staggering numbers, our School Resource Officers completed 520 extra duty assignments.

K9:

Our Law Enforcement Canines continue to be a hit in the community. These law enforcement partners prove to be a great asset in our fight against crime. The four canine handlers completed 822 hours of training in 2011 which allowed them to be able to conduct 207 vehicle searches, 51 building searches, 30 other area searches and 30 human tracks. These searches resulted in the seizure of over 600 grams of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine, the seizure of $11,000 of drug money and the apprehension of 11 individuals. The canines and their handlers were also available for 29 public demonstrations at local schools, churches and civic groups.

Crime Prevention:

The Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office is involved in many different crime prevention efforts. These efforts include: D.A.R.E. at both the elementary and middle school levels, Eddie Eagle Gun Safety, Stranger Danger and Bus Safety classes, Distracted Driving program at both high schools, after prom lock-in at Rosman High School, SHIELD Camp, DARE Camp, Reassurance Program, Community Advisory Board, Neighborhood Watch, Vacation House Check and our latest partnership, TRIAD/SALT (Seniors and Law Enforcement Together). All of these programs are designed to encourage our citizens, young and old, to be aware of the things they can do to help minimize the chance of crime occurring in their lives.

Volunteers:

We continue to be blessed with an incredible group of volunteers. These partners provide much needed support to the Sheriff’s Office by providing such services as patrol, court security, data entry, special events, traffic control, jail ministry and many more. The more than 60 volunteers contributed over 13,000 hours to the citizens of Transylvania County in 2011. Those hours are valued at $271,000.

Special Programs:

We were honored to partner with the Brevard Police Department again this year to provide a unique shopping experience to 100 children at Christmas. Cops4Kids was a huge success thanks to the hard work of staff and the generosity of many. We were able to allow 100 children to spend $100 each on themselves and/or their families. Another exciting program was the Glimmer Of Hope. This program allows the children of our inmates to spend a special evening with their incarcerated mom or dad. Each child was given a present on behalf of their parent. Both of these programs are completely supported by the generous donations of many individuals, churches and community partners.

Statistics:

2009 2010 2011

Breaking/Entering and Burglary: 177 224 177

Larceny: 204 215 222

Arson: 8 6 7

Motor Vehicle Theft: 20 23 26

Murder/Manslaughter: 0 2 1

Rape: 4 10 4

Robbery: 3 6 1

Aggravated Assault: 29 34 25

Calls For Service: ** 13,848 14,251

Arrests: 918 1,562 1,755