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Public Relations
The Tazewell County Sheriff's Office works closely with the media and
uses other means to keep the public fully informed, not only of the
Sheriff's Office activities, but also of any activity that may be of
public interest or affects public safety.
High Schools get Eye Opening Experience
Recently the freshman and sophomore classes at Tazewell
High School got an eye opening experience, when inmates from the
Tazewell County Jail came into their classes to talk about the
consequences of drug abuse. During the week two male inmates came to the
school to talk with the boys while two female inmates came to talk to
the girls, all under the supervision of deputy sheriffs. The inmates
shared personal stories about their experiences with drug abuse,
explaining how easy it is to go from the first smoke of marijuana to
harder drugs and then to jail. Some inmates told the students about the
dangers of prescription drug abuse, explaining that prescription drugs
are just as addictive as cocaine or heroin. The inmates also talked to
the students about being incarcerated. “Your locked up 24 hours a day
staring at the same four walls.” Stated one inmate. “One of the worse
parts about being in jail is that you don’t have your family anymore.
You can only see them once a week through a window. I would love to be
able to hold my children.” This program is being provided as part of the
county’s DARE Program, and being presented by the School Resource
Officers. “Having a deputy talk to the students about the consequences
of drug abuse is important, but then it makes an impact to hear it from
someone who is suffering those consequences, and who is able to talk
about it from a different perspective.” says Sheriff H.S. Caudill. The
Sheriff’s Office has already taken inmates to Graham High School and are
scheduled to visit the other high schools before the year is out.
Burkes Garden Community Starts Neighborhood Watch
Recently officers of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office attended a
meeting with members of the Burkes Garden Community to assist with their
Neighborhood Watch Program. Deputy Perry Allison, coordinator of the
Sheriff’s Office Neighborhood Watch Program, told community members that
everyone should take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to
crimes that may occur in their community. That as neighbors they should
be aware of strange people, or suspicious occurrences in their
neighborhoods, and then report these activities to other neighbors or
the Sheriff’s Office.
Neighborhood Watch is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most well-known
crime prevention concepts in history. The program was developed in
response to a multitude of requests from Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
around the country. Law enforcement leaders were looking for a crime
prevention program which would incorporate citizen involvement, and
which would address the increasing number of burglaries taking place,
especially in rural and suburban residential areas.
Throughout the years, Neighborhood Watch has grown from an "extra eyes
and ears" approach to crime prevention to a much more proactive,
community-oriented endeavor.
The adoption of community policing by local law enforcement agencies has
also contributed to the resurgence in Watch groups over the years.
Neighborhood Watch fits nicely within the framework of law
enforcement/community partnerships, and Neighborhood Watch meetings can
be a useful forum to discuss neighborhood problems and practice
problem-solving techniques. Studies show that neighborhoods with low
crime rates and/or decreases in home burglaries often have thriving
Neighborhood Watch communities. The hope of the program is to have
dedicated and enthusiastic residents who notice suspicious activities
and report them to each other and to law enforcement officials.
The Sheriff’s Office will assist with any community wanting to start
a Neighborhood Watch Program. “Our officers will attend meetings, share
crime prevention information, and work on concerns the community may
have.” States Sheriff H.S. Caudill. For more information on starting a
Neighborhood Watch Program contact the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office
at 276-988-5970.
The Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office Enhances its Response Rate to Child
Abductions
When a child is reported missing, time is one of law enforcement’s
greatest enemies. Every hour a child is missing, the likelihood of a
safe recovery decreases. In order to ensure a high level of preparedness
for child abduction cases, the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office has
implemented the LOCATER, the Lost Child Alert Technology Resource.
There are many challenges facing law enforcement personnel in missing
child cases. One of the greatest is collecting and disseminating the
child’s descriptive information quickly. With that goal in mind, LOCATER
was created to provide the computer hardware and software needed to
rapidly distribute critical missing child data on a local, statewide or
nationwide basis. The Sheriff’s Office is pleased to be working with the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to implement
the LOCATER free of charge to law enforcement agencies that investigate
missing child cases. NCMEC has found that when pictures of missing
children or abductors are made available to the public, one in six
children are recovered as a direct result.
The LOCATER system will be used in conjunction with the State and
county’s Amber Alert plans to find missing children. The LOCATER is one
of the recent child safety programs the Sheriff’s Office has been able
to initiate, along with the Child Identification Program, which gives
parents a photo ID of their child with their descriptors on it. In a
child abduction time is of the essence in getting out information. The
Child ID and LOCATER can help save crucial time in finding a child.
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