By Cletis Steele, Carbon County Sheriff’s Office
As of May 28, our jail population is at 72. We currently have 48 males and 24 females incarcerated in Carbon County. The numbers of our male population are growing on a weekly basis as expected for this time of year and our female population is growing at a rate higher than expected. From May 20 to May 27, the jail booked 30 people into our facility.
The Carbon County Jail is now offering 12 different classes on a weekly basis for both the male and female population. Some of these classes are gender based due to the rapid growth of our female population.
Our newest class being offered is “GOGI.” GOGI stands for “Getting Out by Going In.” This class teaches our female population skills for staying out of jail. The Carbon County Jail offers classes six days a week.
The Carbon County Drug Court programs (criminal and family) now have 58 participants. These programs consist of five phases. Phase I has 24 participants, Phase II has eight participants, Phase III has nine participants, Phase IV has three participants and Phase V has five participants. The family drug court currently has nine participants.
The Carbon County Criminal Drug Court Program is a dual-supervised, community-based program. Each participant in the Criminal Drug Court Program is dual supervised not only by the sheriff’s office but also by Adult Probation and Parole. Carbon County offers one of the few Five Phase programs in the state. Trackers for the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department include Deputy Angela White, Deputy Aaron Powell and Deputy Jesse Fausett.
Over the past week, our deputies have recovered several stolen items including jewelry, guns and furniture and have solved several burglary complaints. Our team worked extremely hard over the extended Memorial Day and graduation weekend. Every holiday weekend has a recipe for disaster as our population spikes. This adds more responsibilities for our deputies and our allied agencies. We all plan for the worst and hope for the best.
All three of our crews are comprised of deputies who specialize in several different areas and have experience to handle any call that comes their way. I know that Sheriff Jeff Wood is proud and comforted by all of the hard work and dedication of his department.
With the help of our Emergency Service Director Jason Llewelyn and Whitney Waterfall, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Department is applying for grants to outfit our department with body cameras. The cameras will help our deputies perform their daily duties without the fear of false accusations and will also hold all of us accountable for our actions. The grant that is being applied for will help get thirteen cameras this year and hopefully another thirteen in 2016.
Due to the five-year expiration or shelf life of bulletproof Vests, the sheriff’s office is replacing all vests that expire in 2015. The new vests are lighter, thinner and more comfortable without losing any protection or coverage.
Our safety tip for the week is taking pictures of all of your valuable items in your home including electronics, firearms, jewelry and valuable collections (serial numbers if possible). Store the items on a jump drive or SD Card. Keep the jump drive or SD Card in a safe place such as a safe deposit box, fire proof safe or at another location just in case of a fire or burglary. This will be helpful not only as a description for law enforcement in locating missing property, but also for your insurance company claims.