Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said when shoppers flooded stores to buy in bulk last weekend, his office did have to handle traffic issues and small altercations. But, overall, he hasn’t seen the rise in crime other parts of the country have experienced.
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“As of right now, arrests are actually down, book-ins are down,” he said. “We are not seeing any spikes in crime or anybody trying to prey on people right now. That’s one of our main priorities: to make sure that doesn’t occur.”
According to statistics obtained through the sheriff’s office, jail book-ins have usually been between 40 and 70 bookings daily. On Saturday, 35 people were booked into the jail and on Sunday, 31 people were booked in.
The number jumped to 61 on Monday — a number comparable to a regular day last week before coronavirus captured headlines.
He also said he feels it’s his responsibility to ensure his deputies and staff are safe during the outbreak. Deputies, dispatchers and other staff don’t get to work from home like some people in the community.
He said the sheriff’s office has put protocols in place to protect employees, including following Public Health guidelines for first responders. Those guidelines are: maintaining six feet of distance from people when possible, practicing hand hygiene, not touching the face and having trained medical professionals transport and deal with anyone with coronavirus.
“To say that we won’t have someone touched by this would be naive, so we are trying to do everything we can to prepare,” Streck said.
The sheriff office also closed its downtown headquarters and will only allow those with scheduled appointments inside.
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Dayton Police Deputy Chief Matt Carper said this week that the city department is committed to continuing to serve the community through the pandemic.
“We want to assure the public that public safety is the number one priority and the critical services and functions will be maintained under any circumstances,” Carper said.
He said the department has staffing models in place for different scenarios that could play out here in Dayton and Montgomery County and that the department will adjust their responses based on need in the immediate future.
Capt. Mike Marion, the jail administrator for the Miami County Sheriff’s Office, said his county has also not seen an increase in crime.
“There probably has been a lesser amount of call volume in the county,” he said.
He said over a 24-hour period this week, there were as few as two book-ins into the jail. The captain also said that the Miami County Jail is following an order to bar visitors into the jail. He said that was enacted Monday.
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“We have several programs here, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, we have several different men’s group, a women’s group, and then church groups, and all of those are not ‘absolutely’ necessary for the operation fo the facility, so all of those programs have been suspended as well temporarily,” he said.
The programs will be reinstated as soon as it is safe to do so, Marion said.
Montgomery County Jail book-ins:
March 6: 40
March 7: 50
March 8: 34
March 9: 72
March 10: 57
March 11: 46
March 12: 69
March 13: 47
March 14: 35
March 15: 31
March 16: 61
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