Sheriff Brad Shutts wants a forward thinking and proactive department

Jasper County Sheriff Brad Shutts is still adjusting to his new leadership role, but the good state in which the department was left to him by retired sheriff and mentor John Halferty allows him to maintain the course the office was headed while also being forward thinking and proactive in its law enforcement.

It is important to Shutts that the sheriff’s office continues offering its quality customer service in every aspect of the department. Whether it is policing, EMS support, communications or jail services, the new sheriff wants to set and meet high standards. He also wants the sheriff’s office to maintain its community visibility.

“One of the biggest deterrents to crime is being out there and being visible and being proactive,” Shutts said in a recent interview with Newton News. “We don’t want to sit back or be reactive or wait for things to happen. Before we act we want to be out there on the front lines of it.”

The sheriff’s office, he added, is left in great shape after Halferty’s retirement. For the past few years the Jasper County Jail has made improvements to its pods to account for more inmates held as overflow from other counties. It is additional revenue for the county and it increased the maximum capacity to 96 inmates.

Approximately 20 years ago the county completed the construction of the jail, and Shutts said that has since been paid off. So now his efforts will be focused on maintaining and refreshing the building itself and keeping up with security to make it a safe place for employees and inmates in the years to come.

“It’s the biggest division in the sheriff’s office and the biggest portion of the budget besides the wages and things like that,” Shutts said. “We’re watching people and having to feed them and clothe them and such. It’s a mini town back there I guess you could say.”

Jasper County Sheriff’s Office has also added EMS support to its litany of services. Instead of replacing the work of volunteer agencies, the sheriff’s office has maintained it is providing additional support and higher level care when needed. It was a program first introduced by Halferty. Shutts wants it to continue.

“We are getting a large majority of our shifts covered, and that’s seven days a week now from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. typically — sometimes they float around,” Shutts said of the advanced life support deputies. “It’s a part-time position and they have full-time jobs outside of here. We’re very active here lately.”

The ALS program is bringing in a small amount of revenue, but Shutts said the charges to agencies are only recouping some of its costs.

“I think there is a good path forward for this,” Shutts said. “It was Sheriff Halferty’s vision to get this successful, and he left it in a successful state.”

Turnover rates are particularly high in law enforcement, and for a time the sheriff’s office was seeing just how true that was. However, Shutts said although the department could always use more deputies on the road (and he is working to make that happen), most positions are filled.

Currently, the sheriff’s office is moving forward in assigning a deputy to Baxter. The city has struggled for years to maintain a long-term police chief. The sheriff’s office is working toward providing contracted law enforcement for an extended period of time. Shutts expects a contract to be ready by July.

“We’ll be adding a deputy position as long as the board approves the contract,” he said. “With that goes an SRO program at the Baxter Community School District. We cannot apply for this unless we were the primary agency. And since we are going to be the primary agency we did apply for the grant.”

The school will supply one-third of the funding, the city will supply another third and then the grant will pay for the final portion over three years. This would require the sheriff’s office to hire a new deputy for this position. So, effectively, the Baxter community would have two full-time deputies.

Earlier in 2024, the sheriff’s office proposed the old Jasper County Animal Rescue League building be renovated into a training facility. With support from supervisors, work has already begun in transforming the site. So far a shooting range has been added, but the building itself still needs remodeled.

Shutts said the training facility is a big priority, but since the bond did not pass he is exploring other ways to finance it.

As county sheriff, Shutts wants to be a leader who continues to learn and improve. He hopes to make good use of the lessons he has learned from mentors like Halferty and former Sheriff Mike Balmer. Shutts wants to be an approachable sheriff who strives to make the office even better than it is now.

“We want to continue on with the positive forward thinking that we’ve always had here,” Shutts said. “We always want to make it better because we don’t want to stagnate and have a place where it’s the same ol’ stuff day after day. We want to have excitement for our employees and we want them taken care of.”