Sheriff raises unplanned Live Scan cost and vehicle needs; commission discusses reimbursements and technology funding

Neosho County’s sheriff and county staff discussed vehicle replacements, an unforeseen Live Scan fingerprinting expense and potential funding sources for technology and law enforcement equipment.

Sheriff Greg reported the county is “still in limbo over what's gonna happen with this Live Scan issue. That's $27,000 we weren't planning on,” and said the state has historically supplied those machines and the county paid annual maintenance fees. He described Live Scan as the electronic capture and automated scoring process that routes prints to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI).

On vehicles, county staff said there is about $80,000 available in an equipment reserve and that state bid pricing could allow purchase of some patrol vehicles this year; staff recommended buying one or two vehicles and returning with quotes. The sheriff's office also described needing an ambulance bed, dump- and flat-bed configurations for county trucks and cited ongoing vehicle mileage and maintenance pressures.

Greg discussed potential alternative funding: some reimbursed fees historically flowed back into the sheriff’s budget as reimbursements; staff suggested examining whether certain fee revenues or forfeiture/proceeds could be placed into a special law-enforcement trust or forfeiture account that rolls over year-to-year to fund equipment such as in-car cameras, body cameras or a proposed x-ray machine tied to opioid response grants. Greg said the county previously received opioid-fund based grants in which other agencies acquired the equipment.

Direction vs. decision: the commission did not authorize equipment purchases at the work session. Staff were asked to check whether the state will provide Live Scan equipment and to return with vehicle quotes and options for establishing or modifying reimbursement-to-reserve rules for law enforcement funding.