Crime is on the rise in Greene and the Sheriff’s Office is asking county supervisors to allow it to hire the help it says it needs.
“We had an increase of approximately 8,000 calls for service from 2007 to 2008,“ Major Randall Snead told supervisors at their budget workshop Wednesday, March 4.


Snead explained the latest jump brought the average number of calls per year to more than 34,000 over the last two and a half years.
“With these times being tough … there are individuals who do not usually break the law that are going to break the law in order to survive. It will show in calls; it will show in increases in breaking and entering, larceny and shoplifting,“ Snead told supervisors.  “People that we’ve interviewed recently have not ever had a criminal record (but they are) shoplifting, just trying to make ends meet.“


Last October 16 the Record reported that the county was tightening its belt in the wake of an announcement that the state shortfall was trickling down to the localities. Greene’s state aid had just been reduced by $106,000, and officials were expecting the economy to get worse before it got better.
A week later, on October 23, the Record reported that the county had made what Board of Supervisors chair Steve Catalano referred to as a “preemptive strike” by, among other things, initiating a hiring freeze and evaluating the replacement of key personnel that tender their resignations on a case-by-case basis.


Since then, some Sheriff’s Office personnel have moved on and Snead wants supervisors to lift the hiring freeze so he can hire the help he needs.


On March 4, he told them that he appreciated that these were “tough financial times” for the county and assured them that the Sheriff’s Office is “taking every step we can to make the budget as painless as we can for the community.“


But every year, said Snead, the numbers that come through his office increase. “We have to keep in mind that we have a service that we have to provide to the citizens and businesses of the county,“ he reminded supervisors.


Snead said there are five vacancies to be filled in the Sheriff’s Office: one deputy, one dispatch operations manager, and three dispatchers. He advised supervisors that the Sheriff’s Office cannot pay overtime to take up the slack, and that even if it could, the extra hours could lead to burnout, followed by more vacancies.


“I’m critical right now. I need to be allowed to hire as soon as possible. I have got to fill those positions,“ Snead said.


Snead said the operations manager position is critical to bringing money back into the county from other sources, such as, for example, grants. The operations manager is also responsible for the oversight of all personnel issues, including the training and certification of staff.


“That person makes sure we’re meeting all the criteria (for all) policies and procedures … and in an emergency situation, when people get sick, that person goes on dispatch,“ Snead said.