Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Sheriff Report topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sagadahoc County sheriff reports hires, drop in calls and rising costs for electronic monitoring
Summary
Sheriff reported two new hires, a roughly 7% year‑over‑year drop in calls for service in December, a peer‑support resignation and concerns that the county is currently absorbing the daily cost of electronic monitoring because courts are not consistently ordering defendants to pay those fees.
Sagadahoc County Sheriff Perry updated commissioners on staffing, calls for service and the county’s electronic monitoring program during the Jan. 14 meeting.
Lede: Sheriff Perry said the department filled one vacant deputy position and issued a conditional offer for a second; the department closed December with just under 6,000 calls for service, a decline of about 7% from 2023.
Nut graf: The sheriff warned that the county is absorbing growing costs for GPS electronic monitoring because courts are increasingly not ordering defendants to pay monitoring fees; commissioners were informed that this could create ongoing jail budget pressures if the practice continues.
Details: Sheriff Perry said one recruit, Alex Faith, was attending a pre‑academy training course and would begin the 18‑week academy the following week and expected to complete field training by summer. He said the second candidate had received a conditional job offer and was completing hiring steps with an expected start later in the year.
On workload, Perry said the department ‘‘closed out the year with just under 6,000 calls for service, which is about a 7% drop off from 2023,’’ but that the number of critical calls remained similar. He also reported a quarterly peer‑support report from the county addiction resource center and notified the board that the peer support counselor had resigned to take a case manager position at the Midcoast Youth Center.
Electronic monitoring costs: Perry told commissioners the county is paying the full cost of ankle‑mounted GPS monitors when judges do not require defendants to cover the device fees. ‘‘Depending on the type of monitor they have, it’s $7 or $8 a day,’’ he said, adding that the county’s revenue line for electronic monitoring has declined because the courts are not consistently ordering payment by defendants.
Perry said he planned to discuss the practice with the courts to seek consistency in ordering defendant payments where appropriate; commissioners were briefed that the jail budget totals and other operational lines could be affected if the county continues to cover monitoring costs.
Ending: Commissioners asked follow‑up questions about timelines for the new hires and acknowledged the need for a discussion with the judiciary about monitoring fees; the sheriff said he would pursue that conversation with the court.
