Newspaper Page Text
November 25, 2024, The Islander, Page 3
Law enforcement costs
Continued from Page 1
40 applications for three deputies posi
tions but will hold off on hiring them
until next year to save money.
The budgeted asset he is dropping
is a request for more office space that
the BOC approved. “I asked Tamara
(Munson - County CFO) to take it out
of the budget. Maybe we can put it
back next year.”
He asked the BOC for the remain
der, roughly $1.5 million, to be covered
with citation revenues in excess of the
budget for last year and tills year.
According to county officials, traf
fic fines generated by law enforcement
are calculated in on the revenue side of
the county budget. Ever since Sheriff
Jump initiated his Traffic Team, they
generated an additional $600,000 over
the budgeted revenue in Fiscal Year
(FY) 2024 and is on track to collect an
other roughly $600,000 in FY 2025.
These are the funds Jump was ask
ing to use to cover the $1.5 million
shortfall.
Jump said his nine-man traffic
unit wrote 11,444 citations, worked
288 crashes, and provided aid to oth
er agencies 2,814 times in FY 2024
among other jobs.
There were five causes for the over
time overage, according to Jump:
• the nmnber of and length of pris
oner hospital stays;
• the number of prisoner transport
hours;
• the number of prisoners in jail;
• court system delays; and
• prisoners with mental health
issues.
Jump said his total adopted bud
get for FY 2024 was $17,608,783. Of
this the majority was personnel costs
- salaries, benefits and overtime -
$14,993,151 which was 85%.
He noted that there are currently 63
inmates who have been in jail for more
than 400 days with little, if any, action
in court proceedings. He said everyone
gets a bond hearing, but there are a
lot of folks in jail that no one wants to
bond out.
Jump pointed out that all the traf
fic fine money comes to the county’s
general fund, none to the sheriffs
department.
Going over just some of the duties
that deputies must perform and the
time spent doing them, Jump said in
FY 2024 they spent 1,160 hours in the
courtrooms; 922 hours transporting
prisoners; 1,004 hours working elec
tions; 1,459 hours at the hospital; 907
hours assisting other agencies; 2,156
working traffic; and 1,418 hours work
ing special details.
He added that one inmate spent
three and a half weeks in an out of
town hospital. “When a hospital sees
the county name,” said Jump, “They
see money.”
In FY 2024 Jump’s department took
476 people to the doctor and made 37
inmate transports to hospitals in Jack
sonville and Savannah, 21 of those
remained beyond the 24-hour initial
diagnosis and were admitted to the
hospital.
During these stays, two deputies
are required to provide round the clock
security at the hospital, not just for
the hospital staff, but for the inmates
themselves in case one of their en
emies learns they are in the hospital.
This required 1,459 hours of overtime.
Extraditions are another area with
which the Sheriffs Office deals.
In FY 2024 his office spent $20,654
for out-of-state pick ups to bring people
back to Glynn. “This does not include
the bordering states driven to to pick
up an inmate on outstanding criminal
warrants,” said Jump.
In one case Glynn had to pay $4,000
to bring someone back from New York.
Out of state trips take two deputies,
he said, and depending on the location,
deputies would leave between 3:00
and 4:00 a.m. because other jails have
certain pick up times.
Ten years ago, FY 2014, the jail
population averaged 300 imnates per
day, In FY 2024 that has increased to
480 to 520 inmates a day.
“Criminal activity has increased
and stays in jail have increased,” said
Jump.
Talking about their courthouse du
ties, Jump said the court does not close
until the Judge calls a recess. “If the
court extends past 5:00 p.m, regular
business hours,” said Jump, “the court
house front desk must be manned and
the doors must remain unlocked so
citizens can enter. This is a law.” This
often means overtime for the deputies
working the court, security for the in
mates and front desk security.
Jump has three deputies working
the Office of Professional Responsi
bility. Together the three worked 856
cases.
A partial list of outside events and
assorted deputy supported missions
they provided security for includes:
• Shrimp & Grits and Christmas on
Jekyll
• Brunswick’s Porch Fest
• July 4 activities
• Georgia / Florida weekend
• Rights Read (Miranda) - four days
a week (Sundays and Holidays)
• Christmas parade
• Hospital stays
• Emergency room trips
• Martin Luther King parade
• Veterans parade and
• the RSM golf tournament.
Another time consumer is the sex
offender registry the Sheriffs office
maintains.
In FY 2024 they monitored 152 sex
offenders, four are currently in the
Glynn County Detention Center and
41 are in other prisons.
Jump has one full time deputy as
signed to the task, one part time depu
ty, one administrative staffer and one
systems analyst.
Registering new offenders involves
fingerprinting, verification of their res
idence, receiving information, approv
ing proximity (they can’t live in cer
tain areas), photographing, publishing
a photo, verifying their employer and
entering them into GCIC (Georgia
Crime Information Center ) for the GBI
website.
They also must maintain a list of of
fenders who live or work in Glynn. This
information is on the sheriffs website
and an electronic copy is sent to all day
care centers, schools and colleges.
They also address citizen complaints
and inquires about sex offenders and
the applicable laws; they investigate
complaints; conduct interviews; collect
evidence; obtain arrest warrants; lo
cate and arrest offenders; compile
investigation case files; and present
cases in court.
Next was detention administration,
which Jump covered in detail.
It costs $16,000 to hire and train
a new detention officer. They are re
quired to take 80 hours of basic train
ing and shadow an officer until they
can demonstrate they understand the
workings of the detention center, the
policies and procedures.
They also receive quarterly training
updates on various issues.
“We lose officers for several rea
sons,” said Jump, “They include ter
mination for various violations. Res
ignations because they cannot handle
supervision, face-to-face contact with
imnates. Some are scared due to fights
or medical emergencies. There’s also
the issue of low pay and no shift dif
ferential in pay. $2 an hour for night
shifts could be a cost saver.”
The final reason for the loss of of
ficers is they leave to join other agen
cies - “the cause of this is money,” said
Jmnp.
74 employees work a 12.5 hour shift
- four shifts a day - or a standard 2,223
hours per year. Anything above those
hours, immediately kicks into over
time status based on the federal Dept,
of Labor hours required for Public
Safety Officers.
Another major issue facing the de
partment is mental health.
For FY 2024, 1,212 inmates were
incarcerated with mental health
Turn to Page 6
Law enforcement costs
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