11/23/1993 - Laserfiche WebLink

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r NOV 23 1993 BOOK 91 PA -GE 56 -7 Sheriff Wheeler further explained that the Community Oriented Police Enforcement (COPE) program is very successful and the Gifford community has responded with enthusiastic involvement. The philosophy behind the program is old-fashioned policing with modern technology along with promoting and enhancing quality of life. Sheriff Wheeler stated that crime is not viewed as a problem but as the result of problems and in an effort to identify the problems, we must bridge the gap between the police officer and the public. We accomplish that by putting police officers on bicycles and on foot as well as in cars in order to get in touch with the people.. As a result, the police officer becomes familiar with the community he serves and the community becomes familiar with the police officer. COPE has been operating in Gifford for about 8 months, and Sheriff Wheeler anticipated continuing favorable results. Sheriff Wheeler realized that this is a tight budget year, but this is an important program. He emphasized that the problems we have in Gifford affect not only Gifford residents but the whole county. He explained that his department is operating with 9 fewer - employees than last year and this grant will provide the means to hire three more officers. We will be able to expand the COPE program into Wabasso and Oslo and place a school resource officer back in Sebastian Middle School. Commissioner Eggert was proud of our three COPE officers, the job they are doing, their interaction with the community and the enthusiasm within the community. She asked if there are deputies currently in the department who could be put into an expanded COPE project and act as school resource officers. Sheriff Wheeler responded that current employees would be assigned to the COPE program but those current employees must be replaced. Road patrol is the prime responsibility of any sheriff's office and when a new program is implemented and personnel for that program are transferred out of the patrol division, the size of the patrol division is reduced. Sheriff Wheeler reported that since he took office he decreased the size of patrol areas and reduced response time by about a minute and a half overall, county -wide. That was accomplished with the very minimum number of people. More officers on patrol could reduce response time even more. There was further discussion about the number of officers employed by the Sheriff's department. Chairman Bird asked for an explanation of how this supplemental hiring grant would affect the County's budget in this year and in subsequent years. OMB Director Joe Baird responded that if we receive the grant, the program would commence in January 1994. He then explained the 20