Sheriff's office reports promotion and training; one officer injured during jail altercation

The Portage County Public Safety Committee received an update on jail operations that included a recent promotion, ongoing recruit training and a report of a major altercation that injured an officer.

The jail reported that Mike Betcher was promoted to corporal last week. Speaker 5 said three recruits — Ty Treader, Jeff Neverman and Adrian Miller — remain in training; two are close to finishing their patrol program. After those completions, staffing will still show approximately two female and one male vacancy. Background checks have been completed for at least one candidate and an offer is expected soon.

Committee members and staff also discussed several inmate altercations over the prior month. Speaker 2 described one incident as more serious, saying the design and constraints of the jail and mental-health considerations required staff to enter a cell and that an officer sustained a leg injury during that intervention. The update noted high census levels in the jail and that staff have been handling fluctuating volumes of inmates.

No formal action was taken; the report was presented for committee awareness and monitoring. Committee members asked follow-up questions about staffing timelines and training progress.