SIMPLER BOOKING PROCEDURE CUTS DEPARTMENT COSTS; PLAN PUTS DEPUTIES BACK ON STREET.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer More than a year after the Sheriff's Department slashed slash v. slashed, slash·ing, slash·es v.tr. 1. To cut or form by cutting with forceful sweeping strokes: slash a path through the underbrush. 2. the amount of time it takes officers to book suspects wanted on misdemeanor misdemeanor, in law, a minor crime, in contrast to a felony. At common law a misdemeanor was a crime other than treason or a felony. Although it might be a grave offense, it did not affect the feudal bond or take away the offender's property. By the 19th cent. warrants, officers say the new procedure is working well. Misdemeanor warrant arrests used to take so long that some patrol officers made them a low priority, which helped push the backlog Backlog The total value of sales orders waiting to be fulfilled. Notes: This figure is used mainly in the manufacturing industry. Increases or decreases in a company's backlog indicate the future direction of sales and earnings. of unserved warrants countywide coun·ty·wide adv. & adj. Throughout a whole county: found at locations countywide; a countywide search. Adj. 1. to 88,000 in 1997. So in April of that year, the department streamlined the misdemeanor warrant booking process. What once took a patrol officer one to two hours now can be completed in as little as two minutes, with jail deputies taking over nearly all of the paperwork. Booking a misdemeanor warrant suspect is now as simple as handing over a booking form, switching handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. and turning over the suspect. The arresting officer doesn't does·n't Contraction of does not. even need to step into the jail. The change, officials say, saves overtime costs and allows police and patrol deputies to spend less time in jail and more time on the streets. ``Having worked the streets for the past two years in a street crime unit, it definitely impacted us in that we could go and do our job more,'' said Senior Deputy Brian Koppenjan. ``Sometimes there were shifts when we would arrest 10 people for warrants. Under the old system that wouldn't have been possible because that would have just got tied up (in paperwork).'' Sgt. Patti Dreyer said the new process has been working so well that the department no longer tracks the number of suspects booked under the express warrant procedure. ``If it's easier, more officers are going to book warrants, and that would help with the backlog,'' said Dreyer, who has followed the program since its inception. ``And the agencies are happier because their officers are out on the street faster.'' Most misdemeanor warrants are for relatively minor offenses - probation probation, method by which the punishment of a convicted offender is conditionally suspended. The offender must remain in the community and under the supervision of a probation officer, who is usually a court-appointed official. violations, drinking in public and unpaid traffic violations. ``I don't believe there's been one negative identified yet,'' Dreyer said. ``All change is initially met with question marks. But there hasn't been such an impact to the (jail) workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of labor While a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. that the staff was overworked or unhappy about it. And I know that outside agencies are quite pleased because their officers don't have to sit around in here.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Senior Deputy John Franchi, left, gives paperwork to Deputy Ryan Milbourn as part of the program to speed the booking process. Don Holland/Daily News |
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