KINGWOOD — What are the duties of a law enforcement officer?
According to Preston County Sheriff Dan Loughrie, officers are responsible for the tax office, civil process, home confinement, law enforcement and court security/transport.
“A lot of people believe we sit along the road and wait for speeders,” Chief Deputy P.A. “Moe” Pritt said. “They see us as ticket-writers, but we do far more than that.”
He said the department answers 75 to 150 calls to service in a 24-hour period. A call to service may or may not include sensitive calls, as well as emergency and non-emergency calls.
Monongalia County Sheriff Perry Palmer said the majority of his department’s calls are also calls to service. He said calls to his department have increased, partially due to a shortage of State Police officers. The State Police detachment in Mon County no longer has a midnight shift.
Palmer said calls to the sheriff’s department include mental health hygiene pickups and, sometimes, medical or juvenile pickups.
“We’re not just out there writing tickets,” Pritt said. “We try to be proactive and do as much as possible. One of our prime concerns is drugs and crimes surrounding drugs. We need to continue our effort. It needs to be a sustained effort.”
Sheriffs in both counties said public safety comes first.
“We try to keep people aware. We want a good line of communication,” Loughrie said. “There are less than 30 officers in the county. That’s counting us, the DNR, the State Police and the town officers around the county.”
He said he has 11 road deputies to cover 677 square miles.
“We have 39 deputies,” Palmer said. “The city (Morgantown) has 80 officers we work with. We work well together.”
He said 26 of his 39 deputies are road deputies.
“We cover 360 square miles. We usually have eight or nine road deputies on a shift.”
Palmer said with the increase in active shooter incidents around the country, his department provides a program for businesses, churches and other organizations.
“We have a captain that goes out and does a slide show and question-and-answer session about active shooters,” Palmer said. “We go out and give the talk about it to any group that calls us.”
Both departments investigate crimes and scams, and provide safety programs for schools and the community.
Palmer said some of the other services his department provides are officers for parades and funerals and school tours of the sheriff’s department. Mon and Preston counties send officers to fundraisers, such as those for Touch a Truck, where they take equipment and talk with the children.
“We were one of the first agencies that had body video cameras,” Palmer said. “We’ve updated all of our equipment and trained our officers in the latest techniques. We’re always looking for grants. We just applied for a $73,000 grant for safety equipment.
“On a whole, our guys do a great job. They step up to it. We want to make this a safe place to live. This is our No. 1 concern.”
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