August has concluded and students have returned to schools in Texas County.
The sheriff’s office maintains a cooperative agreement with the Plato, Success and Raymondville school districts to have a school resource deputy for the rural schools. The deputy’s salaries are paid by the school district and the sheriff’s office provides equipment and a vehicle. James McConnell is the school resource deputy for Plato, Curtis Hubbs is at Success and Art Williamson is at Raymondville.
During the second week of August, I attended the summer conference of the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association. As usual, it was great to network with other sheriffs from around the state and receive good training. There was a focus on officer well-being and the dangers of trauma and PTSD in law enforcement. The highlight of the event was a special presentation from retired DEA agents Javier Pena and Steve Murphy who were the primary DEA agents involved in the pursuit of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Agents Pena and Murphy were made famous by the depiction of their roles in the Netflix series “Narcos.” It was interesting to hear what was factual about the show and what was Hollywood imagination.
Also, during the month of August, I, along with several deputies, responded to a missing person search in the Success area. The search lasted just over 24 hours for a person with dementia that had wandered away from a residence. The search utilized many resources with K-9, teams, search and rescue teams from the local area and beyond and multiple drones. Ultimately, prayers were answered when a volunteer found the missing subject in a heavily wooded area near the residence. We respond to a lot of missing person calls, one thing I would ask of citizens if a child or adult is missing, please call immediately. If the person is found before we arrive just call back and cancel and we will be happy that they are safe. It is helpful to get resources and manpower en route even if their family or other persons are already checking the area.
During the month of August, the deputies and I took written reports for the following call types:
- Stealing – 14
- Domestic assault – 10
- Warrant arrest – 8
- Property damage – 7
- Sex offense – 5
- Nondomestic assault – 4
- Child abuse – 3
- Missing person – 3
- Drug violation – 3
- Mental health – 3
- Burglary – 2
- Fraud – 2
- Trespassing – 2
- Traffic offense – 2
- Violating protection order
- Recovering stolen vehicle
- Possession of child pornography
- Peace disturbance
- Missing animal
- Identity theft
- Forgery
- Animal complaint
- Death notification
- Death investigation
- Abandoned vehicle
- Safekeeping hold
- Vehicle fire
- Civil matter
- Harassment
- Littering