Three months into office, Union County Sheriff Jeff Adams sat down with the Herald to review some of the moves his department has made, and speak a bit about what’s ahead.  Overall, the reports look good for Union County, with Adams’ first months being full of action and including some positive changes. 

One exciting change Sheriff Adams can report seems fairly simple, but has yielded great results. In one month, his office noted it cost roughly $9,200 to feed nine inmates. After investigation into other options, his office began using a different meal provider for the inmates, switching over to purchasing meals from Reid Hospital. This change alone has put the Sheriff’s Department on track to save around $60,000 in one year, and Sheriff Adams reports the food quality and convenience is an improvement as well. This savings to taxpayers comes at an excellent time, as the department must soon upgrade from analog to digital, as must all dispatch and service providers in the near future, a cost which typically falls upon the individual departments. 

Also in potential upgrades, Sheriff Adams visited council and commissioners’ meetings to discuss possible installation of what are called Flock cameras.  These cameras use Vehicle Fingerprint™ technology to search by vehicle make, color, type, license plate, state of the license plate, missing plate, covered plate, paper plate, and unique vehicle details like roof racks, bumper stickers, and more.  It was discussed that setting these cameras up in select spots could help track a vehicle crossing into and out of Union County in the event of an emergency.

Another exciting addition to the Sheriff’s Department came in the form of K9 Officer Ice, who soon joins the force upon completing his training.  He and his handler Deputy Cody Phillips are currently about halfway through their training in Denver, Ind. at Von Liche Kennels.  Ice is a dual-purpose dog, meaning he will serve in narcotics as well as tracking, search and other functions.  Dep. Phillips came to the department in January, having served in Richmond alongside fallen K9 Officer Seara Burton.  Phillips had always wanted to be a K9 officer, something that caught Sheriff Adams’ attention.  Adams was quick to hand the praise to his predecessor (former Sheriff) Dale Dishmond,  who had put in a lot of hours toward acquiring a K9 unit for the department.  “Thanks to that man right there,” Sheriff Adams said, pointing to Dishmond’s desk. “We had all the groundwork laid out, and the pieces started to fall together.”  See more on this below.

In regards to crime in the area, Adams says that whether we want to admit it or not, drugs are a nagging problem here, as they are most places these days.  Related crimes, such as burglary and domestic situations, often come in tow:  “A lot of times these are good people who have made bad decisions,”  Sheriff Adams said, and acknowledged various recovery programs in the area who are making hopeful strides.  Adams, who also drove a school bus for 29 years, has a soft spot for the school children in the county, and their safety and quality of life is a clear priority for him.  As a lifelong Union County resident, he has long term relationships with the various entities that share borders, and keeps close with Butler County (OH) who covers parts of College Corner, as well as the Liberty Police Department with whom they share many runs and calls around the county.  It is these working relationships that reinforce his office’s mission to keep the drugs and crime away from the area, with a major seizure of Fentanyl and a stand-off on 27 just this past week on their list of multi-unit team-efforts.