Sheriff lauds partnerships with county agencies

PERKINS TWP. — With 2019 in the books, the Erie County Sheriff's Office reflected on its cooperation with local agencies to promote county-wide public safety last year. In its annual report, Sheriff Paul Sigsworth thanked Erie County's citizens for their support, through tax dollars and good behavior. "We know that the vast majority of you are law-abiding and peaceful individuals who support our efforts to serve and protect you and who realize the trying situation that we face," Sigsworth wrote. "We are deeply grateful for that support, and we will continue to work diligently every day to continue to earn and maintain your support and trust." Sigsworth also pointed to a number of ongoing initiatives by his department, many done in conjunction with other county agencies: • Maintaining substations in Margaretta, Groton, Oxford, Huron, Milan, Berlin, Vermilion and Florence townships, where deputies report to rather than the sheriff's office on Columbus Avenue in Perkins Township, to improve response times to calls and increase the agency's visibility. • With the support of Edison and Margaretta Schools educators, Deputy Ben Cooper continued D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programs for students in both districts. • Deputy Anthony Gibbs continued to provide school resource law enforcement services at the EHOVE Career Center. It's the 13th consecutive year of the program. Deputies Paul Difazio and Ben Cooper also provided year-round law enforcement services at the BGSU Firelands campus, and Deputy Matthew Green served in a similar role at North Point Educational Services Center, as did Deputy Benny Cruey at Townsend Community School. • The sheriff's office, through Deputy Nick Mazur, performed commercial vehicle weight enforcement duties in the county, with support of county engineer Jack Farschman. • The Erie County Commissioners, the county health department and the county job and family services department worked with deputies Greg Hall and Keith Bodi, who concentrated on serving arrest warrants relating to child support cases. In December 2019, Hall also began conducting criminal investigations involving fraudulent receipt of public assistance funds. • Contracted with Huron Township's trustees to provide four deputies and a communications officer to provide law enforcement and supplemental dispatching services in the township. • Continued their community service program. A partnership between the county's commissioners, common pleas court, adult probation department and the county's solid waste district, the program allows people sentenced by courts to complete community service, and lets probationers and non-violent Erie County Jail inmates perform maintenance tasks around the county. In exchange, the workers receive credit toward fees, court costs, jail time, or a combination of the three. • Continued providing dispatching services for most county police and fire departments, with input provided by a dispatch advisory board currently chaired by Huron police Chief Robert Lippert. The sheriff's office also provided assistance to other agency's calls more than 500 times, and host monthly meetings with county police chiefs to promote communication and information-sharing. Dispatcher Vicky Dunn answers a call at the Erie County Sheriff's Office in Perkins Township on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Register file photo/ERIN CALDWELL • Detective Sgt. Dennis Papineau completed trainings on downloading evidence from computers. Papineau analyzed a total of 5,684 gigabytes of data from cell phones and computers last year. • Provided law enforcement response calls to Erie Metroparks properties. • Deputies Dan Orzech and Cody Webb continued their roles as K-9 handlers with their dogs Max and Zeus. • Continued the Project Lifesaver program, with support of the Lions Club. The program, led by Deputy Ron Schnittker, provides equipment that can help law enforcement track people with cognitive orders who wander from their caregivers. Deputy Chad Henderson holds a radio receiver as he tries to locate the direction of a hidden tracking device during a training session of Project Lifesaver at the Erie County Sheriff's Office on Monday, May 13, 2019. Register file photo/ERIN CALDWELL Coming Tuesday, a year-over-year comparison of arrest and booking statistics from the Erie County Sheriff's Office. Reach reporter Brandon Addeo at brandonaddeo@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @BrandonAddeo and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegister