Weekly Update
Criminal Records Division
The mission of the Criminal Records Section is to provide world-class support to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, other governmental agencies and the public at large through a professionally-managed records repository that complies with all agency, county, state, and federal directives.
Records Clerks work to provide accurate and timely entry of data into agency, state, and federal databases. It is the division’s top priority to be courteous, professional and accurate in response to citizens, whether in person or over the phone.
The following statistics demonstrate how the Criminal Records Division has seen a substantial increase in workload while staffing levels have remained almost identical to those seen in 1988.
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Yesterday
(1988 – 28 years ago)
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Today
(2015)
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Records Clerks Assigned to Division
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10
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10
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Extra Help Staff (18 hrs a week)
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0
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1
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Incidents Entered
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9,300
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25,010
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Warrants Entered
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500
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3,456
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Records Checks/Requests Performed
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400
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1,816
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Citations Entered
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2,500
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9,470
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So far in 2016, Records staff has entered 4,432 warrants; surpassing last year’s total by 28% with more than two months remaining in the year. Additionally, Criminal Records now performs numerous tasks which did not exist in 1988 including:
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Sex Offender Registration (364 for 2014)
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Building Security: Monitoring Cameras, Opening gates and doors for visitors
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Scanning reports into Laserfiche
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Entering stolen property for Deputies
Part of the increase in workload can be attributed to the population growth in Jackson County. However, a large portion of the increased workload, especially in warrant entries, can be ascribed to the fact that many habitual offenders are released from jail due to insufficient bed space. This cycle can repeat itself several times before the arrestee ever goes before a judge. For some offenders, being arrested and taken to jail has become a mere inconvenience.
With the re-allocation of staffing resources to open the basement of the jail in 2017, this situation should improve. However, a modern jail facility with substantially more bed space would allow us to ensure more offenders remain in jail until arraignment. This would allow more time for offenders to receive treatment for drug, alcohol, and/or mental health related issues which could reduce recidivism.
Finally, congratulations to the Criminal Records Division which achieved an unprecedented low of 0.21% error rate for September 2016 (3 errors out of 1,403 incidents submitted). This is significantly below the 4% national standard.
Thank you for your continued support,
Captain Tim Snaith
4053