The sheriff and undersheriff

The sheriff represented CCSO at the memorial service in Guffey for the late Park County sheriff’s deputy Joe Hamilton, who died recently from Hantavirus.

The undersheriff attended a Victim Assistance and Law Enforcement (VALE) Board meeting in Canon City.  He is a member of the VALE Board for the Eleventh Judicial District.

Operations

At the conclusion of a three-day jury trial, Elija Patterson, 34, of Colorado Springs was convicted November 21of several felony charges stemming from his arrest last April 1^st.  Deliberating for just three hours, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on a variety of drug and weapons charges. Patterson is next due in court January 3 for a hearing on a charge of being a habitual criminal, a factor that could increase the length of his sentence.  Patterson was arrested April 1^st by Deputy Sheriff Ben Adair.  The press releases are posted on our website, www.chaffeesheriff.org

Annette Stolba reports that our agency’s Christmas tree is now fully decorated and on display in Salida’s Holiday Park.  Imaginative use of yellow barrier tape, we’d say.

 Training Attended

Sergeants Avila, Everson, and Goodwin attended a one-day class on leadership held in Colorado Springs.

 Personnel

Deputy Nick Tolsma was featured in the Shining Stars section of Colorado Sheriff Magazine for his performance in the May shooting incident in Salida and the Agnes Vaille Falls rockslide in late September.  The magazine is published by County Sheriffs of Colorado.

  Complaints / commendations

The sheriff received a letter from the president of Sangre de Cristo Electric Association praising the work of Patrol Commander Derek Bos whose presence served to defuse the situation at his office when an irate consumer came in to pay a delinquent bill.  The consumer earlier had made threats against the company and its employees.  The president wrote, “Your department has always been very supportive any time we have called upon you.  Thank you for the fine job you do for our county and the local area.  It is very reassuring to know we can count on your quick and appropriate response when we need you.”

Victims Advocate

Communications Center

  Special Projects/Unusual Circumstances

The problems with the computers have been resolved and everything has been stable for the past few weeks.  We put all the email addresses on a more robust spam server after we were hit with the virus.  This has cut down on the amount of spam that we are receiving.  According to the file server for email, our email received 38,000 emails in a four-week period and 36,000 of those were spam/malware/viruses.  The new spam software caught all of them so they never ended up in our mail boxes.

Search and Rescue

The family of Ohio resident Gene George, the subject of an extensive search mission in September that failed to discover any trace of the missing hiker, donated $5000 to Search and Rescue North.  Mr. George’s sister said in her letter accompanying the checks, “I truly appreciate all that you did in searching for Gene George and admire your dedication to your work.”

 Records and Administration

 Detention Facility

  Personnel

With the recent hires, the detention facility is now fully staffed.  Commander Holland has initiated a flexible twelve-hour scheduling plan, allowing for more sequential days off for his staff.  This plan is in effect in several other county detention facilities and has proved very popular with the employees, with no loss in security or efficiency.

    Training Attended

   Equipment issues