GRANT FUNDS TO SHERIFF TARGET ILLEGAL DRUG USE

Mesa County Commissioners on Monday voted to spend more than $100,000
in federal and state grants that will help mainly the Sheriff's
Department, which has been stretched to the limit in recent months by
high-profile criminal investigations.

The commissioners approved spending the grant money on translators,
communications equipment and overtime. They also approved a grant
application for audio and video equipment to replace the decade-old
equipment now being used for video arraignments at the county jail.

"We had some major cases going on," said Eleanor Thomas, finance
director for the county, referring to a $52,668 grant from the High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. "They have been giving us a
lot of money lately."

The dollars from HIDTA go to support the drug task forces of the
Grand Junction Police Department and the Sheriff's Department,
Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Norma Mestas said.

Most of the $52,668 grant was used to pay for translators, said
Debbie Murray, fiscal manager for the sheriff's department.

A Drug Enforcement Administration grant for $17,155 will go to pay
for overtime incurred by officers in street crimes units.

"These are the guys going after the meth and the bad guys," Murray said.

Mestas said authorities' work has earned a lot of money for the law
enforcement forfeiture fund, which takes money seized during drug
busts and uses it to purchase various equipment.

People who are arrested in connection with those busts will continue
to be arraigned from jail, thanks to a $38,090 grant from the Victim
Assistance and Law Enforcement program to pay for new audio and video
equipment.

The practice saves money because the inmates do not have to be taken
to court, and increases safety by reducing transports between the
jail and the courthouse.

"The equipment we have is approximately 14 years old," Mesa County
sheriff's Sgt. Donna Dougherty told the commissioners when asking for
their approval of the grant. "Half the time it doesn't work."

On the other side of the coin, the sheriff's department is saving
more than $95,000 in payroll after taking control of the work release
program from the county Criminal Justice Services Department in August.

Jobs were re-evaluated and staffing adjusted under the sheriff's department.

"There was a huge turnover due to the fact the job responsibilities
changed," Mestas said.

Fourteen of the criminal justice staff positions were transferred
over to the sheriff's department. Not all of the positions have been
filled yet, Mesa County Administrator Jon Peacock said.