Posted on December 20, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
A recent roundtable discussion to combat the state’s opioid epidemic involved a local representative.
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin was part of a joint effort between the Indiana Sheriff’s Association and the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative with Porter County Sheriff Dave Reynolds, state senators and other officials to collaborate the best practices in order to reduce opioid abuse.
Sheriff Dulin said it was a productive discussion.
“It was an honor to represent Starke County in this roundtable discussion with area sheriffs and other leaders in the state,” commented Dulin. “We talked about the experiences and the biggest challenges that it’s had on local law enforcement and public officials with over-prescribing medications, opiates, prescription misuse – the legal and the illegal drugs – the heroin epidemic that we all face.”
Representatives from the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative Indiana announced a $24,000 donation to the Indiana Sheriff’s Association to enhance sheriffs’ efforts in the education and prevention of opioid abuse in communities and county jails. Also donated were 5,000 safe drug disposal pouches in an effort to prevent the unsafe disposal of unwanted prescription medications.
The Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative Indiana was launched in July 2018 and the coalition is dedicated to finding and supporting solutions to end the opioid crisis. For more information, visit www.rali-in.org.
Showing posts with label Starke County Sheriff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Starke County Sheriff. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Monday, August 6, 2018
Starke County Sheriff Hopes to Create Plan to Hire More Officers
Posted on August 6, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin hopes to hire more road officers in order to provide the best public safety.
“If you go by the FBI standards, there’s a percentage they use where there should be 1.5 officers for every 2,000 citizens. We have 25,000 citizens in Starke County. We have 12 officers. Excluding the administration, that leaves us with 10 road officers and that’s including detectives. By the FBI standards we’re supposed to have 24,” explained Dulin.
He hopes to work with the county council to hire at least five new officers in a three-year or five-year plan. Dulin says that will cut down on the overtime pay.
“When we’re working with lower staff it’s cutting into our overtime budget and we do compensation hours. To honor that, we have to pay for part-time employees to cover that shift. Our overtime budget and part-time budget are depleted and it’s the 8th month of the year.”
Dulin commented that he understands that the department needs to work within a budget, but the demand for the officers is there.
“The need is more so now than it’s ever been. The calls have gone up probably 25 to 30 percent in the past two years. We average about 10 to 15 overdoses a month and probably between two and three fatality overdoses a month. We lead the state per capita with heroin overdoses and that’s a badge I’m not willing to wear.”
The sheriff said there is some work that can be done within the budget and he will continue to work with the Starke County Commissioners and Starke County Council members to work on the goal of hiring additional officers.
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin hopes to hire more road officers in order to provide the best public safety.
“If you go by the FBI standards, there’s a percentage they use where there should be 1.5 officers for every 2,000 citizens. We have 25,000 citizens in Starke County. We have 12 officers. Excluding the administration, that leaves us with 10 road officers and that’s including detectives. By the FBI standards we’re supposed to have 24,” explained Dulin.
He hopes to work with the county council to hire at least five new officers in a three-year or five-year plan. Dulin says that will cut down on the overtime pay.
“When we’re working with lower staff it’s cutting into our overtime budget and we do compensation hours. To honor that, we have to pay for part-time employees to cover that shift. Our overtime budget and part-time budget are depleted and it’s the 8th month of the year.”
Dulin commented that he understands that the department needs to work within a budget, but the demand for the officers is there.
“The need is more so now than it’s ever been. The calls have gone up probably 25 to 30 percent in the past two years. We average about 10 to 15 overdoses a month and probably between two and three fatality overdoses a month. We lead the state per capita with heroin overdoses and that’s a badge I’m not willing to wear.”
The sheriff said there is some work that can be done within the budget and he will continue to work with the Starke County Commissioners and Starke County Council members to work on the goal of hiring additional officers.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Starke County Sheriff Asks for Impound Fee, Golf Cart Inspection Deadline
Posted on June 27, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin asked the county commissioners last week if a vehicle impound fee could be implemented.
The proposed fee would be $25. County Attorney Marty Lucas will be looking at statutes that would justify the authorization of such a fee. Lucas said he’s aware that other counties charge a fee, but will research the issue further before the commissioners present a final decision on the request, including how the fees would be utilized within the department.
Sheriff Dulin also asked the commissioners to amend the golf cart ordinance to include an inspection deadline date. He would like to set a deadline of July 1 for inspection and any inspections after that would be done with a late fee of $10 or $15. Dulin said officers are often doing inspections well into October despite open golf cart inspection hours on Saturdays.
“We’ve done probably five golf cart inspection sites on Saturdays,” said Dulin. “We’ve done quite a bit of them. I don’t know how many of them, probably 300, 400 or 500 just on those sites. Plus, we go to the residences.”
If passed, the amendment won’t to into effect until 2019. The commissioners will review the ordinance this fall to include that information.
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin asked the county commissioners last week if a vehicle impound fee could be implemented.
The proposed fee would be $25. County Attorney Marty Lucas will be looking at statutes that would justify the authorization of such a fee. Lucas said he’s aware that other counties charge a fee, but will research the issue further before the commissioners present a final decision on the request, including how the fees would be utilized within the department.
Sheriff Dulin also asked the commissioners to amend the golf cart ordinance to include an inspection deadline date. He would like to set a deadline of July 1 for inspection and any inspections after that would be done with a late fee of $10 or $15. Dulin said officers are often doing inspections well into October despite open golf cart inspection hours on Saturdays.
“We’ve done probably five golf cart inspection sites on Saturdays,” said Dulin. “We’ve done quite a bit of them. I don’t know how many of them, probably 300, 400 or 500 just on those sites. Plus, we go to the residences.”
If passed, the amendment won’t to into effect until 2019. The commissioners will review the ordinance this fall to include that information.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Starke County Sheriff Discusses Community Service
Posted on April 24, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Community service may make a comeback as a condition of a misdemeanor sentence after recent discussions with Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin, Jail Warden Phil Cherry and Starke County Chief Probation Officer Shawn Mattraw.
Dulin told the county commissioners last week that the county could collect fees from those serving a community service sentence.
“What I thought we could do is get the lower level misdemeanors that are sentenced through Knox City Court to be sentenced to community service through the jail. We would take them out and pick up roadside trash, paint curbs, clean parks, and stuff like that. We would charge them $2.50 per hour of community service and it must be paid up front before we take them on.”
He hopes that it will offset costs to the county for that type of work.
Dulin said the fee would be deposited into the part-time jail fund which would help with the salary of the jail officer, lunch for the community service worker and fuel costs for transporting the offender to the location.
Commissioner Donnie Binkley also suggested working with Maintenance Director Jim Coad with work around the county buildings. A tentative schedule could be shared with the county officials to let them know where the workers are helping in the county.
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Community service may make a comeback as a condition of a misdemeanor sentence after recent discussions with Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin, Jail Warden Phil Cherry and Starke County Chief Probation Officer Shawn Mattraw.
Dulin told the county commissioners last week that the county could collect fees from those serving a community service sentence.
“What I thought we could do is get the lower level misdemeanors that are sentenced through Knox City Court to be sentenced to community service through the jail. We would take them out and pick up roadside trash, paint curbs, clean parks, and stuff like that. We would charge them $2.50 per hour of community service and it must be paid up front before we take them on.”
He hopes that it will offset costs to the county for that type of work.
Dulin said the fee would be deposited into the part-time jail fund which would help with the salary of the jail officer, lunch for the community service worker and fuel costs for transporting the offender to the location.
Commissioner Donnie Binkley also suggested working with Maintenance Director Jim Coad with work around the county buildings. A tentative schedule could be shared with the county officials to let them know where the workers are helping in the county.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Starke County Commissioners, Council Discuss Jail CAD System
Posted on April 17, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin shared information with the Starke County Council and Starke County Commissioners Monday night about the need for a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system for emergency services.
Dulin explained that police, fire, EMS, Starke County Probation, Starke County Prosecutor’s Office and Starke County Community Corrections use the CAD system which logs information about all of the calls the county receives. The current system is outdated which is causing several issues for first responders. Sometimes the wrong address is given to officers and emergency personnel because the computer system doesn’t have the right location of the caller. Other times, dispatchers could have one call open, begin another, and the other original call screen disappears. Dulin said an alert to check on officer safety doesn’t update and the system doesn’t code the correct data when it comes to officer badges in specific jurisdictions.
IT Director Richard Frank said the current company no longer provides adequate tech support for which the county pays an annual $12,000 maintenance fee.
Dulin hopes that the county would be able to go with a Caliber branded system, but even the less expensive system with just basic capabilities to be used by the dispatch center, jail and all of the county’s mobile units would cost in the neighborhood of $250,000. Dulin said all police departments, fire departments and the county’s EMS system would have access to the records as well as the prosecutor’s office, probation department and Starke County Community Corrections.
County Attorney Marty Lucas will be looking into proper acquisition of bids for the potential purchase of a CAD system while the county officials encouraged Dulin to seek funding from all of the other jurisdictions that utilize the service to help pay for the system.
No decision was made by the council or commissioners. More information will be brought forward in a future meeting.
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin shared information with the Starke County Council and Starke County Commissioners Monday night about the need for a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system for emergency services.
Dulin explained that police, fire, EMS, Starke County Probation, Starke County Prosecutor’s Office and Starke County Community Corrections use the CAD system which logs information about all of the calls the county receives. The current system is outdated which is causing several issues for first responders. Sometimes the wrong address is given to officers and emergency personnel because the computer system doesn’t have the right location of the caller. Other times, dispatchers could have one call open, begin another, and the other original call screen disappears. Dulin said an alert to check on officer safety doesn’t update and the system doesn’t code the correct data when it comes to officer badges in specific jurisdictions.
IT Director Richard Frank said the current company no longer provides adequate tech support for which the county pays an annual $12,000 maintenance fee.
Dulin hopes that the county would be able to go with a Caliber branded system, but even the less expensive system with just basic capabilities to be used by the dispatch center, jail and all of the county’s mobile units would cost in the neighborhood of $250,000. Dulin said all police departments, fire departments and the county’s EMS system would have access to the records as well as the prosecutor’s office, probation department and Starke County Community Corrections.
County Attorney Marty Lucas will be looking into proper acquisition of bids for the potential purchase of a CAD system while the county officials encouraged Dulin to seek funding from all of the other jurisdictions that utilize the service to help pay for the system.
No decision was made by the council or commissioners. More information will be brought forward in a future meeting.
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