The Daviess County Sheriff's Office is creating a new command position to address the widespread needs of the office's patrol division.
Sheriff Brad Youngman said the office is establishing the position of patrol lieutenant, who will be responsible for patrol shift operations by coordinating with sergeants and making decisions on issues such as when to send a detective to a crime scene, Youngman said.
Currently, the patrol division has patrol deputies, sergeants and a patrol captain. Youngman said Capt. Duane Harper, in addition to answering questions from patrol deputies, is also responsible for maintaining patrol vehicles, payroll, scheduling prisoner transports and contract labor, and writing grants for items needed by deputies.
While sergeants can make some decisions, they're often tied up on calls for service themselves, so issues that could be handled by a sergeant go to Harper, Youngman said.
"Throughout our day, we'll be in a command staff meeting and (Harper) will have to step out and take a phone call," Youngman said.
"Any agency this size needs someone in that mid-level position," Youngman said.
Department command officials held interviews earlier this week and selected Sgt. Tyler Free for the position.
"We had a lot of internal interest in the position," Youngman said, and that, "it was not exactly an easy decision" but that Free stood out.
Youngman said the staff is still determining the full scope of the lieutenant's duties, but that the lieutenant will make daily patrol decisions the road deputies and sergeants are not authorized to make.
The lieutenant will also provide a flow of information to the command staff.
"It's a new position, so we're not sure what exactly it's going to look like," Youngman said. "But we know there is a ton of work we will be distributing."
"As you continue to grow and expand (as a department), you have to make adjustments," Youngman said.
"There's a clear need," he said.
As part of the reorganization, the sheriff's office is also moving supervision of court security from administration to the patrol division. The change will allow the administrative division to focus more on tasks such as deputy training and preparing for the office to be reaccredited by the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police, Youngman said.
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