Newton County law enforcement may have an easier time checking for active warrants after county supervisors agreed to allow the county’s dispatch center to have access to the Justice Court system.
In a Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, Sheriff Joedy Pennington explained Newton County Justice Court is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Under the current setup, he said, deputies do not have a way to check for active warrants outside of the court’s business hours.
“What we’d like to do is have dispatch be able to print off warrants,” he said.
911 coordinator Alissa Middleton said the dispatch center already has copies of Decatur and Union warrants, but any warrants issued by the county are not available during nights and weekends. Without access, she said, offenders can be released before law enforcement finds out they’re wanted.
The county had previously looked at linking the Justice Court and Dispatch computers to give law enforcement access to warrants; however, the board had understood the computer systems were not compatible.
On Thursday, Justice Court Clerk Sue Graham said the board had misunderstood the situation, and the computers were compatible. She said dispatch had been set up to check warrants since last May but needed to purchase a software license to access the Justice Court system.
“They need to purchase a view and print license from Delta,” she said.
Graham said the license would give Newton County dispatch the access to see active warrants and print them off for deputies to pick up. The cost for the license would be $500 with an additional $20 per month service fee.
Middleton told the board Newton County is the only county in the area without the ability to check warrants at the dispatch center. Giving the dispatchers access to Justice Court warrants helps bring Newton County up to speed with its neighbors.
Board president Kenneth Harris said bringing the county up to speed on technology was important; however, he asked Pennington why the warrants should be at the dispatch center instead of at the Sheriff’s Department.
Pennington said he had considered checking warrants at the Sheriff’s Department but decided against it. Having that responsibility would require having a deputy man the computer 24/7 when they should be on the street patrolling.
“It’s not a responsibility we want,” he said.
The board agreed the ability to check for active warrants outside of Justice Court hours was a needed improvement and approved purchasing the license.
Graham told the board once the license is bought, dispatch will immediately have the software access they need.
In other business, Pennington told the board deputies have been working diligently to improve the condition of Newton County Jail.
“We’ve been doing a lot down at the jail,” he said, “painting, fixing everything we know how to fix.”
The Sheriff’s Department also has a good number of seized vehicles and recovered stolen property that needs to be cleared out, Pennington said. The vehicles will be declared surplus and sold.
Pennington said he’d like to return the stolen property to its rightful owners, but it is unclear who the owners are. He said he planned to advertise the property in the near future to give owners the opportunity to claim their property. After that, any unclaimed property will also be sold as surplus.
