Sheriff's Office Research Articles

DOJ Intervention and the Checkpoint Shift: Profiling Hispanic Motorists under the 287 (g) Program

This research examines whether the Department of Justice's (DOJ's) investigation into the Alamance County Sheriff's Office, a 287(g) program participant, influenced the policing behavior of other 287(g)-participating agencies in North Carolina. The study reveals that these agencies increased stops of Hispanic drivers at checkpoints following the DOJ lawsuit, indicating a strategic shift in response to potential DOJ scrutiny. Our findings suggest a phenomenon where 287(g) agencies, under threat of investigation, modify their discriminatory strategies, perpetuating racial and ethnic disparities in policing. This adds to the understanding of 287(g) and its role in fostering racial profiling.

Hazmat and Hate: Planning and Response for Special Operations Teams to a Neo-Nazi Public Demonstration

Introduction:October 18, 2017 an unfortunately popular white supremacist brought hate and thousands of protesters to the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL just months after the violent domestic terrorist attacks in Charlottesville, VA. The threats, violent possibilities, and intense planning undertaken by law enforcement and fire-rescue were hugely successful.Method:Multi-faceted planning from law enforcement, to crowd control, to medical emergency response, to fire suppression, to hazardous material detection and response, to rescue task forces, to extreme sides to protesting... all proved hugely successful.Results:While there was still violence, complex plans of violence among protests were successfully thwarted.Conclusion:The coordination between Gainesville Fire Rescue, Gainesville Police Department, Alachua County Sheriff's Office, Florida Highway Patrol, the University of Florida and more was hugely successful and something to be proud of despite such hatred and violence projected while also protecting the first amendment.

Reducing Underage Drinking Through Visible Home Visits by Law Enforcement: An Efficacy Case Study Over 29 Months.

This paper describes the development and impact of an underage drinking reduction program designed and implemented by a South Carolina county sheriff's office with assistance from the county coalition. In December 2017, high school surveys identified family and friends as the alcohol source 82.2% of the time. In Summer 2018, sheriff deputies began visiting with almost all high school seniors, i.e., 1,352 high school senior visits.Deputies reminded parents to not provide alcohol to anyone under 21 years old. School surveys were conducted pre-program (December 2017), during (April 2018 and September 2018) and post-program (April 2020). Comparing the pre-effort results with post surveys found a 22.8% decline in 30-day drinking (p=.01) and a 23.5% decrease in binge drinking (p=.07). As described by Holder et al., the results provide the foundation for replication under controlled research conditions.

The Tudor Sheriff: A Study in Early Modern Administration, by Jonathan McGovern

This book offers a detailed description of the office of sheriff under the Tudors, interwoven with an argument for the continued importance of the shrievalty, and bookended by calls for a return to administrative history. Jonathan McGovern is a postdoctoral research fellow at Nanjing University’s School of Foreign Studies, a literature programme. In 2019, he completed a doctoral degree in the University of York’s Department of English and Related Literature on the rhetoric of counter-insurgency in sixteenth-century rebellions. Given that background, readers might expect a different book than this. Showing no sign of a literary approach to its subject, it calls instead for a strict ‘archival empiricism’ (p. 226) and attempts to reprise the administrative histories of a past generation. McGovern claims only ‘modest ambitions’ for the book, noting that it ‘does not undertake to chart the rise of the state, excavate plebeian political culture, analyse political languages, or put the politics back into social history’ (pp. 12–13). In short sections at the beginning and end of the text, McGovern complains about the ‘social history of politics’, sometimes in ways that seem to misunderstand or to misrepresent the works listed. Studies that draw on the insights of sociology or anthropology sit alongside postmodern linguistic analyses as works marred in equivalent ways by ‘theory’. He sees studies of political culture as part of a ‘wider attempt to redefine the purpose of history by emphasizing social forces and playing down the importance of individual agency’ (p. 11)—a characterisation that might surprise some practitioners who long privileged the hunt for agency and a complaint that sits oddly in a book focused on an institution described as allowing little room for individual initiative. Later he disavows the ‘vocabulary of agency, reciprocity, mediation, participation, and negotiation’ on the same page where he suggests that historians who have used this vocabulary have been entirely too negative: ‘It would simply be wrong to assume that the lower orders were merely victims, and never beneficiaries, of the exercise of power’ (p. 223). Embracing an explicitly positive, optimistic view of Tudor governance, he asserts with equal optimism that approaching the archive from such a perspective will allow evidence to be examined without the filter of predetermined arguments.

Barriers and Motivators to Seeking Mental Health Support: An Assessment of a Southeastern Sheriff's Office

Limited research has examined what factors serve as potential barriers and motivators for law enforcement personnel in seeking mental health support. The current study presents findings from a survey of 158 sworn and civilian personnel from a large Southeastern Sheriff's office to shed light on these potential barriers/motivators. We drew on previous literature to create measures related to mental health stigma, confidentiality, burnout, various stressors, and organizational support, among others. The main effects OLS regression models suggest that increased perceptions of stigma and personal stressors significantly lowered employees’ willingness to seek mental health support. However, increased burnout and job satisfaction were associated with employees seeking mental health support. Multiplicative models show that as job satisfaction increased within nonwhite respondents, those respondents were significantly more likely to seek mental health assistance. However, as personal stressors increased among nonwhite respondents, those respondents were significantly less likely to seek help. Finally, as overall health increased among white respondents, those respondents were significantly more likely to seek help. Findings indicate that mental health issues experienced by employees vary based on group membership. We discuss several future research directions and policy implications derived from these findings.

Immigrant-Serving Organizations and Local Law Enforcement: Do Nonprofits Predict Cooperation with ICE?

Relatively little research has examined the role of immigrant-serving organizations (ISOs) as policy advocates, and virtually no studies have sought to empirically determine whether ISOs shape local policy implementation decisions. Here we study the relationship between ISOs and the policy decisions of sheriff offices, which oversee county jails. Sheriff offices are vital to implementing federal immigration enforcement programs. We determine whether the presence of ISOs predicts sheriff office cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Using a sample of 630 sheriff offices that responded to a national U.S. Bureau of Justice survey, we find the concentration of ISOs registered to provide pro bono legal aid in immigration court does predict sheriff office cooperation. The presence of these legal-aid nonprofits predicts whether sheriff offices will adopt anti-detainer (or ‘sanctuary’) policies. Additionally, these legal-aid nonprofits also correspond to fewer immigration background checks submitted to ICE from county jails.

Juvenile Justice and Women's Clubs: Ogden as a Case Study

Juvenile Justice and Women's Clubs: Ogden as a Case Study

Get a dog and walk it

Get a dog and walk it Clare Paniccia (bio) from McCallis Magazine's 1958 article, "129 Ways to Get a Husband" Bobo, then 20, was abducted on the morning of April 13, 2011. She was last seen being led into the woods away from her home by a man dressed in camouflage. Chip Washington with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office said their department sent a cadaver dog to assist in the search. Tennessean, March 2014 holly All month I feed Decatur hair-grease & canine. I feedthe county from my bullet hole from my lunchbox my mossy oak mouth. Somebody please go& find out what my mother meant when she asked why I never lefttown. Is it because of the spirits? The silence? Once, I watched my brother flick a lighter under aspoon & breathe each ghost like a treat—first the father & son, then the blessed lamb himself.When I tried it, I felt amaranthine, my head a bucket full of rubies& rare earth. Did you know [End Page 126] there's a god in everything if you listen long enough to conjureone? Put your ear down near the dirt—I overheard a man saying this in a bar by the interstateright before blackout, the shell in my sinus, hush-a-bye my baby waydown in Missouri playing through the pickup stereo like a lullaby. Here's a list of evidence: onerotten molar, a stick of lip balm, a condom; in Parsons they found a snake that had swalloweda tongue. Each dark strata becomes an inventory. In the morning, myheadache triggers a landslide. alert Marge sends us home with a windpipe & we spend our night apologizingto each muscle individually. I'm sorry, you say before cutting the throat. I'm sorry to the cricoid, cartilage—in Cairo, we tack the dog in Kevlar & run him through an abandonedplayground for practice. I'm sorry we say to the slush piles, the kiddie slide, to the hyoid bone hidden inthe ginseng patch. Radio silence. Dead air. You whisper something [End Page 127] about evidence & I picture a totemof a girl, her glass eye & all its film-shot angles, each negative an open mouthon repeat. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But, what can we do? At home, I have to stop myself fromsetting her a place at the table. Even the dog senses some deception —a vision reoccurring: policebursting onto the scene, steam still rising from dinner plates;your fingers wrapped around the paring knife. Don't shoot! you yell, we're good guys &you point to the dog & say Tell 'em, boy. Tell 'em we're good. & here, bed-locked in morninghaze, who's to know? Just yesterday, I siphoned drug money fromthe emergency fund. I watched you beat the dog for tracking mud onto the carpet, your mantra I'm sorry,I'm sorry. As if the trigger pull isn't ingrained, the way he sits outside the door on alert. I knew beforehe'd pawed at the dirt that there'd be an unearthing. I take him out, his nosea polygraph. I follow. The dog walks. [End Page 128] Clare Paniccia Clare Paniccia received her doctorate in poetry and digital rhetoric from Oklahoma State University. Her work has been featured in or is forthcoming from Radar Poetry, Mid-American Review, Indiana Review, Best New Poets, and Tri-Quarterly, among others. She lives and works near Minneapolis, Minnesota. Copyright © 2022 University of Nebraska Press

Evaluation of Law Enforcement Agency Injury Severity Assessments

Across the United States large discrepancies have been found between law enforcement officers’ injury severity assessments and medically assessed health outcomes of crash victims. This research investigated injury severity discrepancies across law enforcement agencies, analyzing linked crash and medical data for each crash victim from 2010 through 2019 for 520 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies. Serious injury (KABCO “A”) assessments were overestimated in 45% to 90% of crash victims, depending on the agency. Statewide the overestimation rate was 65% across all agencies; the State Patrol overestimated 65% of serious injury assessments, 60% for county sheriff offices, and 64% for municipal police departments. These discrepancies can skew safety estimates and affect the allocation of funds. KABCO definitions were changed to a federally mandated uniform standard in Wisconsin in 2017. Results from an interrupted time series analysis found no significant effects from the changed KABCO definitions, either immediate or over time. At county sheriff’s offices overestimation increased as a function of county population size, and decreased with increasing total reported crashes from a jurisdiction, suggesting workload negatively affects overestimation rate, whereas relative familiarity with crashes and their severities improve overestimation rates. Different trauma scales (MAIS and ISS) and serious injury thresholds were investigated, and ISS of nine was proposed for future KABCO comparisons. Findings show that although KABCO “A” assessment overestimation is an issue everywhere, the magnitude of the issue varies from agency to agency and underscores the importance of uniform injury severity training to ensure accurate serious injury surveillance across the United States.

Foucault's Strange Eros

Foucault's Strange Eros

After Action Report: Lessons Learned From Simulating Unified Command In Response to an Active Shooter Incident Using a Command Competency Laboratory.

On October 10, 2019, the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue (LCFR) led one of the largest act of violence (AVI) exercises ever conducted in Loudoun County, Virginia. Over 300 participants and 50 role-players participated across 15 county departments and agencies within Loudoun County. The exercise identified an important recommendation: "future joint unified command trainings are needed throughout the fire and law enforcement command structures." Effective, unified command is an essential NFPA 3000 principle of responding to an AVI. "The success or failure of the response will hinge on the quality of unified command." After-action reports from AVIs across the United States emphasized the importance of unified command. A second exercise recommendation proposed "a joint AVI unified command competency scenario between LCFR and LCSO should be developed and delivered across all levels of supervision... this scenario should demonstrate 'best practices' for establishing and operating unified command between LCFR and LCSO." The authors developed two active shooter command competency simulations that require LCSO and LCFR to form unified command and manage the initial response. The simulations reinforced accepted response practices, such as identification of cold/warm/hot zones, early unified command, rescue task force team deployment, and protected corridor establishment. The simulations were packaged into a unified command competency training and simulation program. Through the facilitated debriefings with participants and facilitator debriefs, three types of lessons learned were identified: 1) high threat incident response lessons, 2) lessons for conducting AVIs in the command competency lab, and 3) active threat operational considerations for command officers.

Rapid adaptation during the COVID crisis: Challenges experienced in delivering service to those with Opioid Use Disorders.

Adaptation is an accepted part of implementing evidence-based practices. COVID-19 presented a unique opportunity to examine adaptation in evolving contexts. Delivering service to people with opioid use disorder during the pandemic required significant adaptation due to revised regulations and limited service access. This report evaluated changes to addiction medication services caused by the pandemic, challenges encountered in rapidly adapting service delivery, and initial impressions of which changes might be sustainable over time. Qualitatively-evaluated structured interviews (N = 20) were conducted in late 2020 with key informants in Pinellas County (FL) to assess the pandemic's impact. Interviewees represented a cross-section of the professional groups including direct SUD/HIV service providers, and sheriff's office, Department of Health, and regional clinical program administrative staff. The interview questions examined significant changes necessitated by the pandemic, challenges encountered in adapting to this evolving context, and considerations for sustained change. The most significant changes to service delivery identified were rapid adaptation to a telehealth format, and modifying service consistent with SAMHSA guidance, to allow for 'take-home' doses of methadone. Limitations imposed by access to technology, and the retraining of staff and patients to give and receive service differently were the most common themes identified as challenging adaptation efforts. Respondents saw shifts towards telehealth as most likely to being sustained. COVID-19 provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine adaptation in a fast-paced, dynamic, and evolving context. Adaptations identified will only be sustained through multisystem collaboration and validation. Results suggest that additional components could be added to implementation frameworks to assess rapid adaptation during unplanned events, such as access to additional resources or local decision-making that impacts service delivery. Findings will also be integrated with quantitative data to help inform local policy decisions. Adaptation is an accepted part of implementing evidencebased practices. COVID-19 presented a unique opportunity to examine rapid adaptation necessitated within evolving contexts. Delivering services to people with opioid use disorder required significant adaptation due to changing regulations and limited access to lifesaving services. This study examined changes in service delivery due to the pandemic, challenges encountered in rapid adaptation, and initial impressions of which changes might be sustainable over time. Qualitatively-evaluated structured interviews were conducted with a cross-section of professional groups (direct substance use disorder (SUD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) service providers, and sheriff's office, Department of Health, and clinical program administrative staff) in Pinellas County (FL). The most significant changes to service delivery were rapid adaptation to a telehealth format and increased allowance for 'takehome' doses of methadone medication. Limitations imposed by access to technology, as well as the education of and staff and patients were the most common themes identified as challenges. Respondents saw shifts towards telehealth as most likely to be sustained. COVID-19 provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine adaptation in a fast-paced, dynamic, and evolving context. Adaptations will only be sustained through multisystem collaboration and validation. Findings suggest that additional components could be added to implementation frameworks to assess rapid adaptation during unplanned events, such as access to additional resources or local decision-making that impacts service delivery.

Disgust and Fascination

Content warning: murder, sexual assault, corporal punishment The King County Archives is home to records created by the King County Office of Public Safety and its successor agency, the Sheriff's Office. Among the records held by the King County Archives are police investigative files created during the disappearance and murder investigations of a number of young women killed in the 1970s. These files would colloquially become known as the “Ted Bundy collection” to both staff and researchers. This article, written from the perspective of a processing archivist working on the “Ted Bundy collection,” explores how emotionally challenging content may disturb typical archival operations like processing, describing, digitizing, and providing access to a collection. Utilizing a feminist ethics of care, this paper interrogates the act of balancing King County Archives' mandate for open government records while attempting to be sensitive toward the victims, victims’ families, and other survivors of that period of public anxiety, researchers of myriad intentions, as well as the collection's stewards. This article examines ways that the Archives has failed some of these stakeholders in attempting to protect others, including staff, and asks how to remedy this failure with iterative processing, description, and other work with the collection. Pre-print first published online 12/14/2021

Outbreak of COVID-19 and interventions in a large jail — Cook County, IL, United States, 2020

BackgroundCorrectional and detention facilities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 due to shared space, contact between staff and detained persons, and movement within facilities. On March 18, 2020, Cook County Jail, one of the United States’ largest, identified its first suspected case of COVID-19 in a detained person.MethodsThis analysis includes SARS-CoV-2 cases confirmed by molecular detection among detained persons and Cook County Sheriff's Office staff. We examined occurrence of symptomatic cases in each building and proportions of asymptomatic detained persons testing positive, and timing of interventions including social distancing, mask use, and expanded testing and show outbreak trajectory in the jail compared to case counts in Chicago.ResultsDuring March 1-April 30, 907 symptomatic and asymptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were detected among detained persons (n = 628) and staff (n = 279). Among asymptomatic detained persons in quarantine, 23.6% tested positive. Programmatic activity and visitation stopped March 9, cells were converted into single occupancy beginning March 26, and universal masking was implemented for staff (April 2) and detained persons (April 13). Cases at the jail declined while cases in Chicago increased.Discussion/ConclusionsAggressive intervention strategies coupled with widespread diagnostic testing of detained and staff populations can limit introduction and mitigate transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in correctional and detention facilities.

Make campus safe for students with disabilities by collaborating with police, safety personnel

Students with disabilities face unique challenges on college campuses. One of those challenges is how to recognize and react appropriately to an emergency or violent incident, such as an active shooter. In New Jersey, the Bergen Community College Office of Specialized Services partnered with campus safety personnel and the Bergen County Sheriff's Office to develop a training program to address this need.

COVID-19 and treating incarcerated populations for opioid use disorder

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office (FCSO), in Greenfield, Massachusetts, is among the first jails nationwide to provide correctional populations with access to all three medications to treat opioid use disorder (MOUD, i.e., buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, FCSO quickly implemented comprehensive mitigation policies and adapted MOUD programming. Two major challenges for implementation of the MOUD program were the mandated rapid release of nonviolent pretrial individuals, many of whom were being treated with MOUD and released too quickly to conduct continuity of care planning; and establishing how to deliver physically distanced MOUD services in jail. FCSO implemented and adapted a hub-and-spoke MOUD model, developed telehealth capacity, and experimented with take-home MOUD at release to facilitate continuity-of-care as individuals re-entered the community. Experiences underscore how COVID-19 accelerated the uptake and diffusion of technology-infused OUD treatment and other innovations in criminal justice settings. Looking forward, to address both opioid use disorder and COVID-19, jails and prisons need to develop capacity to implement mitigation strategies, including universal and rapid COVID-19 testing of staff and incarcerated individuals, and be resourced to provide evidence-based addiction treatment. FCSO quickly pivoted and adapted MOUD programming because of its history of applying public health approaches to address the opioid epidemic. Utilizing public health strategies can enable prisons and jails to mitigate the harms of the co-occurring epidemics of OUD and COVID-19, both of which disproportionately affect criminal justice populations, for persons who are incarcerated and the communities to which they return.

Body-worn cameras' effects on police officers and citizen behavior: A systematic review.

Body-worn cameras' effects on police officers and citizen behavior: A systematic review.

Control of epidemics by jails: lessons for COVID-19 from HIV

Control of epidemics by jails: lessons for COVID-19 from HIV

Community‐Based Models to Improve Service Access: Rethinking Behavioral Health Crisis Response Pathways

AbstractResearch ObjectiveWe reviewed capacity in Massachusetts for crisis response and diversion (from arrest and emergency departments) to support the initiation of care for individuals who interact with law enforcement and are in behavioral health crisis. Our primary data collection assessed stakeholder perspectives on barriers and facilitators to implement community‐based diversion models, factors associated with timely access to behavioral health services, and recommendations for local policy improvements in Massachusetts.Study DesignUsing purposive sampling, we conducted interviews with stakeholders responding to behavioral health crises in community settings (eg, Emergency Services Providers [ESPs], coresponders, law enforcement, first responders), emergency department physicians, peer recovery professionals, and housing experts. We also conducted two focus groups: 1) individuals and family members with lived experience and 2) an independent state Commission that included legislators, leaders of behavioral health agencies, law enforcement, courts, and advocacy organizations.Adapting Penchansky and Thomas’s access framework, we characterized access dimensions—availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation of individual needs, acceptability of care, and individual/family experience—as moderating diversion from arrest or emergency departments and the process of making timely connections to behavioral health services. Drawing from our conceptual framework, we developed semi‐structured interview and focus group guides. We analyzed detailed notes and transcripts using thematic analysis and collected informant feedback on preliminary findings (ie, member checking) with an independent Commission to develop a report for the Massachusetts Legislature in 2019.Population StudiedLaw enforcement and behavioral health stakeholders (n = 10); focus groups with individuals and family members (n = 7); and Massachusetts Commissioners (n = 11).Principal FindingsWe found that law enforcement agencies in MA implemented diverse strategies to support identification and response to behavioral health needs/crises, such as investing in specialized training, adopting coresponder models, establishing relationships with local providers, and initiating community outreach efforts. While local efforts have increased arrest diversion, stakeholders identified regulatory, transportation, resource, and data sharing barriers to diverting individuals from emergency departments. Focus group participants emphasized the importance of provider “fit” and choice across the care continuum; challenges navigating the system “labyrinth”; and lack of care continuity. Stakeholders noted a lack of viable alternatives for community‐based crisis services and timely behavioral health care, especially for individuals with complex medical needs, the elderly, children, and individuals who exhibit aggressive or violent behavior.ConclusionsProviding community‐based services, specifically for individuals in acute behavioral health crises, may help reduce both arrests and emergency department stays. Options to enhance diversion and access may include expanding specialized training, increasing embedded behavioral health care providers, expanding crisis stabilization beds, or implementing a restoration center with access to ESPs, social services, transportation, and other behavioral services. Consultation with key community stakeholders and coordination with existing models and services will be essential for implementation success.Implications for Policy or PracticePolicy makers are exploring alternatives to arrest or emergency departments for individuals with challenges accessing behavioral health care, including working to develop a community‐based restoration center model informed by these conclusions. The Commission's findings were submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature (June 2019); implementation of a restoration center is expected to begin in FY2021, pending Legislative approval.Primary Funding SourceMiddlesex Sheriff's Office.

Agency-offered and officer-utilized suicide prevention and wellness programs: A national study.

Limited research exists in the area of police mental wellness and suicide prevention, especially regarding programs utilized by these agencies. The purpose of this project was to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of use of police officer wellness promotion and suicide prevention programs implemented in the United States and an understanding of the perceptions of program effectiveness (Part A). We also sought to determine whether differences exist in the mental wellness and perspectives of programming of officers from agencies who utilize suicide prevention and wellness programs compared to those agencies who do not (Part B). Data for Part A was collected directly from agencies via a stratified random sample of city police departments and sheriff's offices nationwide. Part B entailed completion of online surveys by individual officers from agencies participating in Part A. The final sample included 55 agencies for Part A and 144 officers for Part B. At the agency level (Part A), Employee Assistance Programs or counseling services were the most common programs offered, and, notably, planning for programming was inconsistent or not well established. At the officer level (Part B), almost 25% of respondents did not know whether their agency had programming; 35% did not feel their agency supports its officers' mental wellness. For officers who did feel their wellness was supported, they reported significantly less stress and higher overall well-being. Of officer respondents, 12.4% indicated it was either "quite" or "very likely" they would attempt suicide someday. Implications and suggestions for law enforcement agencies are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).