A new sheriff in town

MINERAL COUNTY – Mineral County Sheriff Tom Bauer may have only been in the top law enforcement position in the county for three short months but that doesn’t mean he and the other officers of the MCSO are taking their time getting used to the transition.

Bauer and the other officers and staff of the MCSO have, in fact, hit the ground running under his new leadership and are taking an aggressive stance toward the scourge of illegal narcotics activity in Mineral County. In addition to the work of disrupting illegal narcotics activity in the area, Bauer has another important agenda and it involves the young people of Mineral County.

He said recently, and during his campaign for sheriff, focusing on Mineral County schools and interdicting drug distribution and production would be a few of his primary objectives. Bauer, who has 30 years of law enforcement experience, said one of the ways he wants to combat the drug problem in Mineral County is to enlist the help of a four-legged asset with a keen nose for illegal drugs.

“My top priority is cleaning up the drugs in Mineral County,” Bauer said. “One of things that I said I was going to do during the campaign is to get a drug dog. There are so many things you can do with them. That’s going to happen.”

Bauer said another thing that helps him in fighting the drug problem in Mineral County is he is familiar with many of the culprits. Having been born and raised in Mineral County, Bauer said he and his officers are often times well aware of who is involved in illegal drug production and distribution in the area.

“We’ve got a pretty good handle on who the people are who are involved with drugs,” Bauer said. “As soon as you make an arrest, you gain a lot of valuable intel (intelligence) from that individual. For the most part, we know who is doing it and we’ve started cleaning it up and will continue to do so.”

Bauer said Mineral County was particularly vulnerable to drug activity because of the depressed economy, the lack of jobs in the area and the money that can be made in the illegal drug trade.

“There’s just too much money involved for there to never be a drug problem,” Bauer said. “Mineral County’s depressed economy breeds drug problems because there’s a lot of money involved. Unfortunately until we get jobs here, I think it’s going to continue to be a problem.”

Another reason the new sheriff of Mineral County wants to focus on the drug problem is because of the peripheral effects the issue can have. Bauer said, often times, drug activity leads to a host of other problems.

“Drugs breed crime,” Bauer said. “I think the majority of crime in Mineral County is due to drug use and sales. To support a habit, people steal stuff. It’s a way of life for some and we need to break that cycle and that’s one the reasons why drugs are a huge focus of mine. I’ve seen what drugs do to families and the community and it’s heartbreaking to see and I want to change that.”

Bauer said another way to combat the problem is to focus on the young people of Mineral County. He said getting involved with the schools and having a law enforcement presence would deter young people from bringing dangerous drugs into Mineral County learning institutions.

“I’ve really become passionate about getting kids to say no to drugs,” Bauer said. “We want to help them stay away from the negative effects of drugs. The more that the kids realize that we are people too and we are here to help them and that we are not here to just arrest them if they make a mistake, it’s a win-win for us. The future of Mineral County is the kids. If we don’t take care of them, we’re going to lose the battle.”

Some of Bauer’s plans for reaching out to Mineral County students is to have a dedicated school resource officer who will divide their time amongst the three schools as well as simply have officers stop in and make their presence known. He said, before the most recent school year began, he met with teachers, staff and administrators of all three schools and he said everyone was extremely receptive to his ideas.

“I’m going to require that the day-shift deputy go into the school, at least once a week, to talk to the kids and the teachers and the administration so that we become involved with the schools,” Bauer said. “The other thing that will do is build trust between the schools and the sheriff’s office.”

Bauer said he also plans on creating a law enforcement camp for young people. He said the activities could potentially include a mock homicide investigation and a mock trial. He also said he would institute internal evaluations of MCSO staff to improve how they go about business.