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Sheriff reports jail population, grant and scams; jail TV service to change
Summary
The Codington County sheriff reported February jail statistics, a $5,000 staffing grant award, contract collections, transport activity and a social-media effort on cryptocurrency scams; the sheriff said the detention center will need to contract for TV service under new arrangements and urged residents to avoid cryptocurrency scams.
The Codington County sheriff reported February activity and operational updates at the March 25 meeting.
The sheriff said deputies responded to 483 cases and calls for service in February, completed 11 accident reports, served 59 warrants and served 220 civil papers; transport miles were 1,541. For the jail, the average daily population (ADP) for February was 53.54 with a high of 59 (Feb. 24) and a low of 47 (Feb. 8). The sheriff reported 19 participants in the 24/7 program across various monitoring modalities during February.
On finances, the commissary bank balance for February was reported as $15,009.01; $7,999.14 was in the lobby ATM/booking kiosks, for a grand total of $23,910.72. Resident balances, commissary items, and commissions were also reported in the packet. The jail collected $3,958.98 in related fees; work-release fees of $2,460 and scram fees of $3,077 were reported.
The sheriff said the jail received a staffing grant this year of $5,000; he noted the county received $10,000 the year before and described the award as variable year to year. He said the grant will be used toward staffing costs.
The sheriff said the detention center has received free TV service from Midco historically but that a change (described as an FCC-related change in the transcript) requires the county to negotiate a paid TV arrangement; the transcript does not specify the final monthly cost. "It's gonna be very limited. The very limited number of of TV channels," the sheriff said, adding jail TV is a management tool and that inmates "have a right to know the news and what's happening outside the walls."
The sheriff also briefed the board on a social-media and Facebook series intended to educate residents about scams, especially cryptocurrency-related fraud. He said law enforcement has seen losses exceeding "well over a hundred thousand dollars" in recent cases and warned residents that if someone asks them to put money into a cryptocurrency ATM or transfer funds into crypto, "it's a scam." He urged victims to contact law enforcement quickly: "Time is important. You have roughly 72 hours for law enforcement to try and get some of those funds back," the sheriff said, while noting successful recoveries are uncommon.
The board thanked the sheriff and noted architects would meet with him that afternoon on jail planning details.
Why it matters: Jail population and staffing, grant funding and vendor invoices affect county corrections operations and budget; scams and cryptocurrency fraud pose a direct financial risk to residents and the sheriff's office is encouraging rapid reporting.
