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Knox County sheriff reports jail maintenance, camera upgrades and ongoing hiring efforts
Summary
Sheriff Dan Lacaser told commissioners the jail held 79 people and that the county completed internal dorm painting, fence and gate work, camera-system upgrades, and vehicle replacements; several officer and jail hires are in process as the sheriff seeks full staffing by year-end.
Sheriff Dan Lacaser briefed the Knox County Board of Commissioners on jail operations and staffing on June 25.
"As of — this would have been done yesterday — we had 15 females in custody, 64 males, with a total of 79," Lacaser said, providing the most recent population figures. He said the sheriff’s office is actively recruiting and has multiple candidates "in the process," and expressed a hope of reaching full staffing by the end of the year.
Lacaser detailed maintenance and security work at the jail, including interior painting and graffiti removal in a dorm, replacement of razor wire atop a recreation-area fence, gate and evidence-room fencing, and replacement of three unmarked vehicles that had reached the end of service. He also said SAS completed camera-system upgrades and installations, and staff intend to reposition at least one camera in the evidence room.
Board members and staff discussed recruitment-ad strategy; a commissioner advised keeping job postings running continually to catch applicants who move to the area, while Lacaser said he had paused a public ad while candidates were already in the hiring pipeline. The sheriff noted the non-certified applicant pool tends to be larger than the certified pool.
The sheriff and commissioners also discussed maintenance work underway at the jail, a pending fire-panel replacement by a contractor called Custom Wire, and vehicle fleet turnover. No formal actions on staffing or budget changes were recorded during the briefing.
The board accepted the report; follow-up on hiring and any requested budgetary changes would appear in future county documents.
