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Sheriff's Office puts transport van into service

06/28/2010

side view of Sheriff van
Side view of van
interior of the Sheriff van
Interior of van
front isolation section of van
Front isolation section
side view of van with doors open
Side view
   

The Lawrence County Sheriff's Office has aquired a new piece of equipment.  As of Monday June 21, 2010, the Sheriff's Office now has a secure van to transport inmates to the Department of Corrections and to and from local jails.

In years past after circuit court there have been as many as 10-15 inmates that needed transported to the department of corrections.  When this occured the office would only be able to transport three inmates at a time per vehicle which would require two officers per vehicle as well.  On many occassions, it would take as many as three days to transfer sentenced inmates to D.O.C.  This would amount to overtime, extra fuel and mileage plus taking extra officers to complete the task.

Now, with the transport van, as many as 11 inmates can be transported at one time with only using one vehicle and two officers.  Both male and female inmates can be transported at the same time due to the fact that the van is divided into two sections.  This saves on manpower, fuel, and overtime costs.

Funding for this van was supplied primarily from the Law Enforcement Restutiution Fund.  This fund is overseen by a board of Lawrence County citizens who manage the fund.  The fund is supplied by court ordered restituion and payments from convicted persons in Lawrence County Court.  So in essence, convicted inmates paid for the van that will now be transporting them to the Department of Corrections.

This van will help increase the effectiveness of the Sheriff's Office while preforming transport duties.  It will also help by reducing manpower and resources needed to move inmates from one facility to another.  This in turn will hopefully help reduce costs that will help the overall budget.