For Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck, 2018 is an opportunity to confront issues both within his department and in Sebastian County.
Hollenbeck has based many of his goals for the coming year off successes and needs that arose during 2017. He said the successes and needs of 2017 were "coordinated together" and he is using a similar approach to tackle 2018 challenges.
Hollenbeck outlined his 2018 goals for the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office Wednesday.
Jail population
The inmate population in Sebastian County Detention Center has dropped over the course of 2017, and Hollenbeck doesn't see any point in letting it go back up.
Addressing the overpopulation of the jail was arguably the biggest challenge facing the Sheriff's Office in 2017. The jail, which contains 356 beds, held an inmate population of more than 500 at certain points during the year.
The inmate population was 352 as of Wednesday.
"We’re down at almost normal levels for that facility," Hollenbeck said.
Hollenbeck said Sebastian County's criminal justice coordinating committee developed and utilized tools to drive down the jail population in 2017. One such tool is a signature bond protocol for nonviolent offenders, which assesses C- and D-level felons for jail release until their court date.
"The goal is to continue some of the things that we’ve been doing and stay on top of some of the assessment tools that we’ve worked, be able to track some of those assessment tools," Hollenbeck said.
Hollenbeck said he will be trying to drive down the inmate population by reducing recidivism in the county. He said the Sheriff's Office will be partnering with the Riverview Hope Campus and Gov. Asa Hutchinson's Restore Hope initiative to provide released inmates with a re-entry specialist that will aim to provide them "certain skill sets that they can use once they get out of jail."
Hollenbeck said Sebastian County's Crisis Stabilization Unit, which he hopes will open in February, will contribute to this mission.
"They’re getting arrested because there’s no one else to call but law enforcement. When they get there, they may be off their medication, they may be committing some petty crime, and then the next thing you know, we’re throwing them in jail," he said. "We’re being asked more and more to help solve social issues, and this is going to help us.”
Improving response
With the Sheriff's Office slated to move from downtown Fort Smith to Massard Road and Zero Street, Hollenbeck hopes to ensure a quicker response time to crime scenes.
The current Sheriff's Office building sits just south of Downtown Fort Smith, one block away from the Fort Smith Police Department. The move to Massard Road and Zero Street, which was approved in November and has its construction costs approved for the 2018 budget, will put the office building closer to sheriff's deputies' areas of jurisdiction, Hollenbeck said.
"It takes 15 minutes of running lights and sirens to get out of the city, which is dangerous to the community and dangerous to our deputies," Hollenbeck said of his office's current location. "We’re going to be there a heck of a lot quicker, which is going to be good for the citizens that we serve."
The Sheriff's Office also plans to install computer aided dispatch in deputies' vehicles in 2018. The system will enable deputies to use a computer in their vehicles to enter information for arrest and offense reports at the scene of an incident.
Hollenbeck explained that the system will indirectly improve deputies' response time to calls. He explained that his deputies currently have to drive to Greenwood or Fort Smith to enter their reports.
"Not only is that going to be safer for our citizens, it also keeps that deputy in the field so that if another deputy on another beat is in an emergency situation and needs help, he’s already in the field, he’s already in the car, he can save the information and respond to that emergency call immediately," he said.
Compensating deputies
Hollenbeck said he would like to provide for his deputies in multiple ways in 2018.
Hollenbeck said he and other county officials will be pushing for a pay raise for all Sebastian County employees in 2018. This push follows a raise given to county jail employees in 2017 — one of several measures taken to improve the quality of the jail this past year.
Hollenbeck said the 2017 pay increase drove the jail's employee turnover rate from 50 percent down to as low as 25 percent. He also said the jail employees deserved it.
"While we’re sleeping at night, we have people inside the detention center guarding people on Christmas that society says, ‘Hey, don’t let them out,'" he said.
Hollenbeck said he would especially like to see his law enforcement deputies receive a raise so that they are "paid what they're worth."
“There’s a lot of baseball games and birthday parties and family get-togethers and things of that nature that each and every deputy here sacrifices and misses just to serve the public," he said. "While people are sleeping at night, there are people on patrol that are out protecting us."
In addition to pushing for a pay increase, Hollenbeck also wants to upgrade his deputies' equipment. He said his department purchased "just over 40 pieces of brand new body armor" in 2017 and will be looking to purchase "25 or 30 more" in 2018.
Hollenbeck also said his department is partnering with the Western Arknasas Counseling and Guidance Center to provide training for all Sebastian County law enforcement.
"We have an upcoming training session in January on identifying mental health issues, recognition of crises that people are going through, as well as de-escalation techniques," he said.
Addressing opioids
Outside his department, Hollenbeck hopes to address the national opioid crisis on both a regional and state level.
Hollenbeck, who is a member of Arkansas' Opioid Task Force, said he and other state leaders will push for educational and legal measures to address opioid over-prescription, addiction and trafficking in the area and throughout Arkansas in 2018. He hopes his efforts can look for solutions beyond "locking people up."
"We’ve got good doctors that are sworn to relieve pain, but allegedly, it’s been shown that some of the wool has been pulled over their eyes when it comes to things such as opioids," he said.
Hollenbeck said he and other county leaders in the state will create a lawsuit to sue the pharmaceutical companies in 2018. He also said he and other leaders will push for state legislation that will establish a limit on opioid prescriptions.
Locally, Hollenbeck wants to host an opioid summit in Sebastian County.
"We’re partnering with local medical professionals who are just as concerned as law enforcement is, and try to develop some innovative ideas that we can try to do locally," he said.
The summit fits into Hollenbeck's belief that public awareness is the solution to the problem.
"Law enforcement can’t solve the problem, but I think that the community, through their engagement, legislation and legal action, I think that we can make a major dent and start reducing this problem," he said.