Sheddrick Explains Coverage, Limitations

The natural question that people have on their minds is, "Where was the Sheriff's Department on the night that the dogs and cats were poisoned?" While Sheriff Terry Sheddrick said that they could only be so many places at once, they were doing all they could. Sheddrick patrols the county 24/7; his deputies alternate weekends so that Dennie Mildfeldt is off one weekend and Tom Trullinger is off the next weekend. The problem is that Sheddrick explained that deputies can only work 40 hours per week; he said that the county was not willing to pay overtime.



He said that the Sheriff's office was not even notified of the poisonings until 4:30 on the afternoon of Sunday the 13th, almost one day after the poisonings had happened. They had been investigating a break-in at the schoolhouse in Sheridan that morning. Sheddrick said that they were still looking for leads in the animal poisoning case and that even if people were not sure about the significance of evidence, they should turn it in to the Sheriff's Department. The number is (660) 564-2222; persons may also contact Sheddrick or deputies Tom Trullinger or Dennie Mildfeldt.



In response to the incident, Sheddrick said that the sheriff's departmen has been stepping up patrols of the area and that people had been watching more closely. He said that there had been no more reports of any information since a suspicious bag was turned into the department on the 15th; the bag in question has been sent into a lab for testing. "If people see someone throw stuff out of their window, call us," said Sheddrick. He explained that the Sheriff's office takes all calls seriously and that they will get to the most serious calls first.



Due to the limited resources of the office, Sheddrick said that the department had to prioritize. For instance, if they got a call about a loud party and a call about an accident at the same time, they would have to work the accident first and then work their way down. In addition, he said that there had been a lot of cattle thefts in the region and the Sheriff's Department was patrolling a lot of rural roads; he said that increased visibility of the department would deter such crimes. He said that they check out suspicious cars in pastures. He said that most of their calls came from out of Grant City. "We have a limited amount of help and equipment, but we go with what we've got," he said.



Two ideas that have been pitched to alleviate the deputy shortage in Worth County were volunteer deputies and posses. Terry said that his office has floated around the idea of posses at community events who would keep an eye on things and contact them if there was any trouble. They would not have arrest powers, but the county would not be liable for their actions. However, Sheddrick said that he had contacted the state about that and that the state had never gotten back to him. Sheddrick and Commissioner Kevin Austin said that volunteer deputies who got the proper training would have to be commissioned by both the county and the state; the downside of that is that it would lead to more liability for the county.