JCSO Weekly Update - Support Bureau

This week’s update from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office will serve to acquaint citizens with the Support Bureau and the variety of its functions.  While subsequent communications will contain greater detail regarding divisional duties and statistics, today’s message aims toward a succinct overview.

The Support Bureau consists of five divisions:

-Civil

-Criminal Investigations

-Criminal Records

-Marine

-Search and Rescue

Civil Division

The Civil Division is a state mandated service of the Sheriff's Office. Its purpose and function is to serve and execute the various legal processes issued by the several non-criminal courts of the state and its subdivisions, but also for the legal community and the general public.

In 2015, the Civil Division saw a significant increase in the number of Concealed Handgun License applications.  December was the busiest month with 604 applications processed, of which, 339 were new Concealed Handgun License applications.  The Civil Division has also seen a substantial increase in real property sales (foreclosure sales) with over 519 scheduled in 2015.  This substantial increase has created challenges for us in Civil and we are looking at ways to improve efficiency with current staffing levels.

Criminal Investigations Division

The Criminal Investigations Division (CID) investigates a broad spectrum of criminal and non-criminal activity which includes but is not limited to major crimes and death investigations.  From 2012 to 2015, detectives saw a 25% increase in the number of cases investigated.  During this same time period, the medical examiners saw a 12% increase in the number of cases screened.   For 2016, we are looking to implement the You Have Options Program (YHOP), which provides a more victim-centered approach when investigating sexual assaults.  One of the primary goals of YHOP is to encourage victims of sexual assault to report the crime as they are historically one of the more underreported.

Criminal Records Division

Criminal Records manages all internal public safety records for the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and all external records requests from other agencies and from the public.

In 2015, Criminal Records entered critical information on 25,010 incidents into the Sheriff’s Office records management system.  They also maintained a National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) error rate of below 2% for 2015.  The NIBRS standard is 4%.  This data is used by the FBI for its crime reports and publications, detailing specific offenses and outlining trends that can help law enforcement and citizens better understand crime threats both nationally and locally.

Marine Division

The Marine Division is responsible for the enforcement of boating laws and regulations on waterways in Jackson County.  Marine deputies also conduct boating accident investigations and community education.  In 2015, the Marine Division made more than 5,800 boater contacts, which included teaching 1,700 children about water safety.  The Marine Division also made 13 arrests for Boating Under the Influence of Intoxicants. 

Search and Rescue Division

Search and Rescue (SAR) is a state mandated service of the Sheriff’s Office.  Our Search and Rescue division consists of the Rogue Valley SAR and Prospect SAR.  In 2015, SAR conducted 106 missions.  Our 120 SAR volunteers worked a total of 16,738 volunteer hours in 2015.  We are grateful to have such a large group of dedicated volunteers working for our agency.  Without them, we could not provide the level of service that we do.

This is a very general overview of what we do in the Support Bureau.  In the coming months, I plan to give more details as to what each division does and I will provide updates on recent events and activities in the Support Bureau.  Thank you for your continued support of our office.

Sincerely,

Captain Tim Snaith