Under Sheriff reports seasonal rise in calls, two recruits due to graduate in July

Under Sheriff Sean Chapman gave the May public-safety report to the Harvey County Board of Commissioners on June 17, saying traffic stops and calls for service are trending upward for the spring and summer.

“Spring summer is pretty active,” Chapman told commissioners, explaining seasonal patterns and forecasting property crime upticks around the holidays. He said two deputies currently in the academy are scheduled to graduate in July and will enter the field training officer process, which should help address staffing shortages later in the year.

Chapman said the detention center’s recent daily average was just under 100 and that the federal inmate population was about eight to nine. “We could plan for at least 25; I think our target is 24 to 25 federal inmates,” he said, noting the county must balance federal placements with rising local daily population.

He also reported recent narcotics distribution cases and that civil process papers are trending up for the season. Night-shift coverage in the detention center had four shifts that were short-staffed recently, and the department planned to continue recruitment and retention efforts.

Discussion: seasonal crime and call-volume trends, staffing and training pipeline, detention-center population balancing between local and federal inmates. Decision/direction: informational briefing; no formal commission action recorded.