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Ohio County Sheriff Wants To Hire Civilians for Courthouse Security

photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Chief Deputy Kent Lewis, left, and Sheriff Nelson Croft speak before county commissioners this week.

New Ohio County Sheriff Nelson Croft wants to hire civilians to work security and the metal detectors at the door to the City-County Building, a move he says will cut costs and permit him to put more deputies on the road.

“I was stunned, actually, that the county pays as much as we do for these court security posts,” Croft told county commissioners this week. “I took the average pay for a corporal, $30.35 an hour, and multiplied that out. It’s $242.80 a day for a deputy to set that post.

“At $16 an hour, having civilian officers there would cut that cost down to $128 a day. And as you know, we have three posts and that’s times three.”

He estimates that at 248 business days in a year, putting deputies on courthouse security is costing the county more than $180,000 a year in wages on average.

“If we could hire our part-time security guys like we did in the past, if all shifts were covered, we would whittle that down to $95,232 a year,” he said.

Croft said there already has been interest in the part-time security positions expressed by retired law enforcement officers. The vetting process for the jobs is the same as it is for deputies, he added.

He noted the sheriff’s department wouldn’t have to send the civilian security guards to the police academy, and they wouldn’t receive a benefits package. They would be limited to working 32 hours per week, Croft continued. Meanwhile, the deputies that otherwise would be working courthouse security would be put back on patrol.

County Administrator Randy Russell asked what the appropriate number of deputies employed by the department is.

“The right size for our agency would be 30 total,” Croft responded. “I think with that, there is even a possibility I could put a second man on the drug task force.”

Russell next asked Croft how many deputies he wants on the road at any given time.

On weekdays, five deputies are scheduled to work though some may have to escort inmates outside the county for mental hygiene trips, Croft explained. He also wants four road deputies on the midnight shift, and five on the weekends.

Croft said many years ago, the department could get by with just three deputies on the road, but that isn’t possible with the growth happening in outer areas of Ohio County. He suspects overtime among the full-time deputies would be cut down tremendously so long as he had a full number of civilians and deputies employees “committed to working.”

“There will be times when you see a deputy working a (security) post,” Croft said. “But generally speaking … we should be able to cover it without the overtime.”

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