Mineral County dispatcher explains Sheriff's Office calls

[Editor's Note: This is part two of a series looking at the duties of Mineral County Sheriff's Office dispatch.]

Each week the Mineral Independent publishes the Mineral County Sheriff’s Report to help people paint a better picture of what deputies are doing during their shifts.

Anna May is the most tenured Communication Officer, or dispatch, with 2.5 years in her position with the Sheriff's Office. May, and all of the other COs, take the calls 24/7/365, but she also is the person who compiles the weekly report for publication. May prepared a list of common calls deputies respond to with examples:

Informational

This one can vary, but for the most part it is someone has contacted the Sheriff’s Office with a tip or information that may help with a case or shed light on something we were not aware of.

Assist Motorist (I-90 and other locations)

In the event that a Deputy finds a car sitting on the side of the road, they may stop to assist. Or this can be an issue of someone called 911 and reported that they were having car issues, trying to change their tire, etc. Basically, it boils down to a Deputy stopping to help someone who is driving.

Animal on Roadway

If a Deputy comes across an animal on the roadway, or a call comes in about one, the Deputy will remove it from the roadway. I have had calls where Deputies have had to use shovels in their car to clear the roadway. If the animal is a deer, elk, or moose, the Deputy will check the animal and if it is in good condition then they will call Dispatch to start going down the salvage list. However, if it is a bear, it is not permitted to be salvaged per Fish and Game regulations. If this happens, then the Deputy removes the animal from the roadway and Dispatch notifies Fish and Game of its location.

Salvage List

Dispatch has a rolodex of people’s names, numbers, location they are willing to salvage from, times they are available for salvaging, and what type of animal they are interested in. When a call comes in for a salvage animal, Dispatch then goes through the rolodex checking for location, times, and animal type then one by one we call each person until one is located who is available and willing to claim the animal. They can then go to the location, pick the whole animal up, and take it home for dressing and processing. Within 24 hours they are required to go onto the Fish and Games website and apply for a salvage permit.

Noise Complaints

It may be shocking but your neighbors do not want to hear your music thumping their windows at midnight. As this in some areas is a violation of city noise ordinances a Deputy may be called out. Depending on the persons response to the Deputy over their noise this could result in a warning and up to a citation. We also have had this call because someone was choosing to chop wood and woke their neighbors. Another example is because they have been running a loud generator 24/7.

Assaults

Assaults can anything ranging from physical assault to sexual assault. When I run the call log, I do not specify which is which for privacy and investigation reasons. Also, the outcome of this call is not always readily available when the call log is made. It may be a type of assault that takes the Deputy a week or more to investigate and then charge, or it can be something as simple as writing a citation on the spot or the suspect may be cited and brought into the jail to see the judge the next day.

Trespass

Trespass calls can happen for many reasons; it could be a hunter trespassing on someone property. It could be someone who has been asked to leave the location that has refused to do so. It could also be a business who has trespassed a patron who insists on returning time and time again to the business.

Intoxicated Subject

Intoxicated Subject may be people concerned for the welfare of an intoxicated subject walking home. Or it can be that the behavior of the intoxicated subject is not acceptable for social norms. This could be a Deputy responding for the welfare of the intoxicated subject and maybe even offering a courtesy ride or responding to defuse the situation which could result in a warning on up to being taken to jail. The outcome weighs heavily on the response that the Deputies get from the intoxicated subject.

Assist Citizen

Assist citizen could be the Deputies checking on a pedestrian walking down the road, or someone walking up to Dispatch window asking to speak to a Deputy.

Animal Calls (dog or cat)

In Superior if an animal complaint gets called in, the City of Superior has two employees who in conjunction with their normal duties also handle these calls. In St. Regis, there are two volunteers that we can call who more times than not knows the owner of the animal, they will call the owner and work on reuniting animal with owner. We do not really ever get calls from other Mineral County areas.

Animal Calls (livestock)

On occasion we get calls regarding livestock on Mineral County roadways, while we are an open grazing county, we do try to alert the owners that their livestock is in a potentially dangerous location. If we start by calling neighbors in the area, they always seem to know who the livestock belongs to, it starts the neighbors calling each other and the owners are located, and the livestock corralled to a safer location.

Welfare Check, I-90 Mineral County

Welfare checks along I-90 are typically due to an overdue driver. MHP and Deputies are advised of the call, rest areas and roadsides are checked. If we are able to make contact with the overdue drivers then we make a call to the reporting party to advise them of the driver’s status. If we are unable to locate the driver it could be that they have already passed through Mineral County, we call the reporting party and advise of the result, typically by this point they have heard from the driver.

Partner Family Member Assault

Partner Family Member Assault happens if family members assault another family member and physically hurt them or make them feel fear for their safety. Based on the extent of the call then Deputies may have the family separate for the night or it can result in citations being issued and/or being booked into the jail. These can be some of the most unsafe calls for Deputies; they never know what to expect from these types of calls, if there are weapons in the home, or if the assaulter has been drinking depending on the aggression level of the assaulter this can be dangerous for our Deputies.

Juvenile Runaway

The Deputy responds to the location of the reporting party, based on our close-knit communities we are able to locate the children rather quickly, typically at friend’s houses, or somewhere locally. If there was ever an event where the children were not located quickly then the child’s description (height, weight, eye color, hair color, skin tone, scars, birthmarks, etc.), clothing last seen in, most recent picture, and what they may have with them are logged into National Crime Information Center. NCIC missing children and people can be seen worldwide as it is the central database for tracking crime-related information, and it is interlinked with federal, tribal, state and local government agencies and offices. So, if another location runs a search for a child they have, and it matches the information we put in then we get notified that the child has been located.