As the sun goes down, so does the Callaway County Sheriff's Office's ability to effectively patrol the roads and operate its jail.
To demonstrate the difficulties the CCSO faces due to low staffing and a degrading jail, Sheriff Clay Chism invited the Fulton Sun on a special tour and ride-along Friday.
The jail
On Friday, the Callaway County Jail's inmate population hovered around 92, which is 18 more than the official 74-person capacity. During the night shift, only three correctional officers staff the building. One is stationed in the jail's command center, unable to leave their post until relieved.
"The population didn't even start reaching the 70 mark until about 10 or 11 years ago. Before that, when I first started, we were anywhere between the mid 40s and mid 60s," said Callaway County Jail correctional officer Capt. Robbie Harrison, who began working at the jail in 1997.
Harrison said an increase in crime and arrests in the county over the past decade has been handled by a relatively static-sized jail staff. On top of that, the jail's physical condition began to deteriorate around the mid-2000s due to problems with the foundation.
"I don't think the ground was properly prepared when they were building the jail," CCSO chief deputy Daryll Maylee said.
Built in 1989, the jail now has visible cracks in the walls and gaps in the floor in the front of the jail. While the affected portion of the jail does not house inmates, Harrison said over the last few weeks, the cracks have begun spreading further back to the areas that do.
The jail has received a number of temporary repairs over the years to address the crumbling foundation. However, according to Harrison, most of the quick fixes are only effective up to a few months.
"We've had some mudjacking work done to the foundation, which raises it, but the last time we did it, the contractor straight up told us that it was only going to be effective for six weeks before the ground resettles," Harrison said.
On patrol
CCSO deputy Sgt. Don Dame works night shifts and has been a member of the sheriff's office for five years. He said while on patrol, he will drive an average of 250 miles a night.
From midnight-6 a.m., only two deputies patrol the 842-square-mile county. After 3 a.m., Missouri Highway Patrol Troop F has no troopers on patrol until 6 a.m., leaving the CCSO deputies alone in monitoring the various highways.
"Weekends can get pretty busy. Really any day of the week can get hectic, but the weekends have a lot of people that are off of work, and then some of them start drinking and some start fighting," Dame said.
While detaining a man for a misdemeanor marijuana violation in Auxvasse on Friday night, Dame received notice of a domestic dispute in Holts Summit. Before he could finish booking the Auxvasse man, Dame received an urgent call from Missouri Girls Town near Calwood about a potential assault, leaving the Holts Summit call on the back burner.
While transporting a woman from Missouri Girls Town to the jail on assault charges, Dame spotted a noticeably reckless driver in front of him. Suspecting the driver was drunk, Dame called the other on-duty deputy and the Fulton Police Department to deal with the situation. However, the driver pulled into a driveway before the available officers arrived.
"Missed opportunities happen every night. You're running calls and you see things like that, and you can't address it because you're transporting somebody to jail," he said.
After booking the woman on assault charges, Dame looked into the Holts Summit call but did not know if the situation was ever addressed. This is an aspect of the job Dame said he loathes.
"That's one of the frustrating things. You get busy like this, and I probably won't know anything for another hour," Dame said.
Shortly after midnight Saturday, the two deputies were called back to the jail because of an urgent situation. An inmate on suicide watch had hit an officer in the head while being transported within the prison. Dame was 20 minutes away, en route to finally check on the domestic dispute in Holts Summit over four hours later.
"Great, I'm already three reports in today, and the weekend has barely even begun," he said.
By the time Dame arrived at the jail, the situation had been stabilized with the help of three Fulton Police Department officers and the Callaway County EMS. The inmate had been put into a restraint chair for his safety and others', though state law required him to be let out of the chair in four hours.
"We'll probably be getting the same call from the jail in about four hours," Dame said.
The vote
Two propositions slated for the Nov. 5 Callaway County ballot could change everything for the CCSO, according to law enforcement officials. Dame is a big proponent of Propositions 1 and 2, which would supply the CCSO with funding to address its ongoing needs on patrol and at the jail. (For more about the two propositions, check out this Fulton Sun article: bit.ly/2VXNgN9)
As of Saturday morning, the CCSO had received 22,357 calls so far in 2019. Dame said the CCSO is on pace to "smash" the 24,174 calls received in 2018.
"I really think having three guys (after midnight) would be great because you could have one guy in every zone during the busy period," he said.
The propositions are also intended to pay for a new jail.
"We definitely need to increase our holding capacity, and that would actually give us a much better work environment," Harrison said.
Harrison recalled a period where he worked at the jail for 72 hours straight. He and Maylee said many of the jail's daily staffing issues come from the reality that overtime has lost its shine.
"It used to be that people would jump at an opportunity to work overnight because it's more money. It's gotten to the point now that no one wants to do it because they're tired of doing it because they've been doing it so much," Maylee said.