From My Mobile Desk

Well, Spring has sprung, or at least that is what the meteorological calendar says. We still see some cold days here and there but, overall, I'm excited for the warm weather and ready to plant our garden!

I was online with a friend one night, discussing the misinformation that quickly gets spread on incidents and happenings. She said, "Larry, you need to grab a cup of coffee, run out somewhere since you like to be out working, pull over to the side of the road and type a letter about things that are happening."

So, I'm going to start doing a monthly "Letter from My Mobile Desk," because my desk is wherever I am.   

Since this is my first one and I have six years to get caught up on, let me cover a lot of it by saying thank you. Thank you to the best citizens any Sheriff or his staff can ask for. Thank you for your support and for the trust you've placed in me to help keep you and your family safe.

To summarize the past six years is nothing short of saying it is a blessing. It may have been rocky here and there, but then again, we would never learn anything if we always had a smooth road in life. We've come a long way and will continue to move forward while putting our citizens and staff first and striving to put this office in the forefront of law enforcement.

Now, before I go down this road, I want to make sure everyone knows that I have a good relationship with all our surrounding Sheriffs. We regularly have meetings where we discuss crime trends and a multitude of issues facing the office of the sheriff. But, since taking office, I've made it a personal goal to "hold the line" to the best of our abilities. By "holding the line" I mean stopping crime at our county lines and keeping away those who want to treat this county and its citizens as their playground of victims. This can be accomplished through visual deterrence, previous swift and hard justice for others of the criminal element, and swiftly moving in and removing the criminal element with the cooperation of our community partners, Commission, Prosecutor and Associate Judge.

"Fighting crime" and "getting tough on crime" can be easily said, and can be a political promise for some but, in reality, it takes a team effort to achieve this, and the funds to get things done. It starts at home, with the values we instill in our kids and what we allow them to get away with. It comes from you saying something about what you are seeing in your neighborhood. It takes Law Enforcement working together and sharing information; Prosecutors working side by side with Law Enforcement and taking cases to trial, and Judges handing out tougher sentences and holding criminals accountable. It takes the Commissioners and other community leaders supporting the efforts of everyone. I can say that, in Clinton County, we proudly stand strong and united on this stance, and will continue to do so.

This late Winter to early Spring saw a promotion of our Patrol Corporal Joey Pierce to the newly re-opened Narcotics Investigator with the Drug Strike Force, and a turnover of our Patrol Sergeant from Joshua Smith, who went to work for Cameron PD, to our new Sergeant, Matthew Gardner. Gardner is a 20-plus year KCPD veteran who retired as a Sergeant. My staff and I are looking forward to seeing the results of what Det. Pierce and Sgt. Gardner bring to the table for our citizens and this office.

In our ongoing effort to improve our operations, we recently turned our attention toward the manner in which investigations are managed. After our initial assessment, we determined that an additional detective was needed to assist in completing our internal audit. While remaining within our operating budget, we hired a part time detective, identified and addressed gaps in our investigative process, and implemented a more streamlined process to ensure we are as efficient in our investigations as possible. Our commitment is to represent every victim as wholly as possible and ensure their offender is held accountable for their actions.

Planned events coming up in May or June: I will be personally hosting "I Shot with the Sheriff" CCW and defense class. The proceeds from this will go to the Investigative Squad, the Women's Shelter in Cameron and the Senior Center in Plattsburg. I am in the process of finalizing legal paperwork with our attorney and getting my training course finalized, so keep an eye out for that as it will be a limited class size.

Major Trevor Ballard is putting the finishing touches on our second Citizens Academy. Watch for him to make an announcement soon on that class.

That was a lot to cover in just two pages, but I look forward to the next letter. In the meantime, if there is anything I can help you with or which you would like to visit more on, feel free to reach out to me via an office visit, phone call or email.

Thank you and God bless,

Larry Fish, Sheriff