BENTONVILLE -- New sheriff Meyer Gilbert briefed Benton County's justices of the peace Thursday on his first month in office.
"We've made a lot of progress in a couple of weeks," Gilbert told the members of the Quorum Court, pointing to the reorganization of the command staff and other areas of the Sheriff's Office and jail and building working relationships with other law enforcement agencies.
War Eagle work
Design work on plans to renovate the War Eagle Bridge are nearing completion. Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6, said Thursday he will call a meeting of Benton County’s Transportation Committee in July to review the proposals before the county asks for bids on the work in August.
Source: Staff report
Gilbert was appointed by the Quorum Court to serve out the remainder of Kelley Cradduck's term after Cradduck agreed to resign last month. Cradduck faced felony and misdemeanor tampering charges. He entered a no-contest plea to the misdemeanor charge and the felony charge was dropped.
Gilbert detailed two new positions in the Sheriff's Office, an internal affairs investigator and a jail investigator, which he said were created through the reorganization. Gilbert said Lt. Ed Motsinger, who retired from the Springdale Police Department, was persuaded to take on the internal affairs post and Sgt. Micheal Lira, who had been in the criminal investigation division of the Sheriff's Office, was named as the jail investigator. He said that, to his knowledge, the Sheriff's Office has never had such positions in the past.
"For an agency this size that is a necessity," he said. "We have 260-plus employees. You've got to have accountability and fairness. It really requires one person to do these investigations."
Gilbert said in the past internal investigations were handled by different members of the criminal investigation division.
The jail investigator position was also needed, he said, pointing to the recent arrest of a jailer who allegedly had an improper relationship with a female inmate at the jail.
"Unfortunately we had that jailer arrested, which showed the need for this position right away," he said. "The jail investigator handled that."
Gilbert also said the Sheriff's Office has contacted other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and begun working with task forces in a number of areas, from homeland security to drug investigations and Internet crimes against children. He also said the Sheriff's Office is doing more community outreach, citing a "Lake Awareness" program on Beaver Lake and a program at Willowbrook Elementary School where students, parents, faculty and staff met with deputies.
Gilbert said he wants the Sheriff's Office to be more visible and as part of that the office is changing from military-style uniforms to more traditional khaki or green uniforms and transitioning from "low-visibility" vehicles to more clearly marked black-and-white units. He said deputies will also be spending more time in the unincorporated areas of the county and interacting more with residents.
"Our goal is moving toward more community-oriented policing," Gilbert told the justices of the peace.
In its regular business, the Quorum Court approved buying a fire investigation meter that was questioned by one resident.
Mike Clifford of Bentonville likened the decision to buy the device at mid-year to personnel requests and said it should have been part of the normal budget process. Clifford also said the justices of the peace should have spent more time investigating the need for the device since no other local agencies have one.
Justices of the peace Tom Allen, representing District 4 and Barry Moehring, from District 15, defended the purchase.
Moehring pointed out the device will be used to assist the Sheriff's Office in arson investigations and the county will also be able to assist cities with such equipment. Moehring added the money used to buy the device was from the sale of surplus fire trucks, which brought in more money than anticipated.
"This is budget neutral and I think it's a good use of the county's money," Moehring said.
NW News on 05/27/2016