The last column I submitted covered the topic of winter weather driving. Shortly after that submission, we had record high temperatures.
As luck would have it, or more approximately residing in the middle of the country, our weather quickly changed to winter precipitation. The sheriff’s office was able to continue normal responses to calls and incidents, with our fleet of all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive patrol vehicles.
The governor had declared a state of emergency and had the National Guard out of West Plains available if additional heavy vehicles were needed. We did not have to utilize this resource, but it was good to have it available.
The Texas County Child Fatality Review Panel met in January to review some juvenile deaths that occurred in the last six months. The panel is convened per state statute and reviews deaths of children under 18 years old. The review panel consists of the prosecuting attorney, coroner, sheriff or other local law enforcement, Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division, Health Care Services and Emergency Medical Services (normally a representative from Texas County Memorial Hospital) and Texas County juvenile officers.
The solemn task of the panel is to review the circumstances, causes and nature of the child deaths and consider possible law violations and recommendations to prevent future deaths. Each of the members has access to different platforms to share educational information about safety recommendations. The panel allows for confidential discussions between various professionals about individual cases. The child fatality review panel law took effect in 1992.
From Jan. 1 to 30, the Texas County Sheriff’s Department generated 664 dispatch events and the following typed incident reports: domestic assault disturbance (11), traffic offense (8), stealing (8), warrant arrest (6), assault (5), identity theft/fraud (3), agency assist (3), trespassing (2), mental health (2), drug violation (2), death investigation (2), animal complaint (1), littering/dumping (1), peace disturbance (1), sex offender registration (1), resisting arrest (1), sex offense (1) and unlawful use of a weapon (1).