By Eric Baerren
Source Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant, Mich
Higher gas prices are prompting changes in the way that the Isabella County Sheriff's office will handle low-level calls for the foreseeable future.
Calls for low-level incidents that have already happened will likely get a phone response rather than an in-person visit, said Sheriff Michael Main on Wednesday. Violent crimes or other crimes requiring an investigation will still get an in-person visit.
Road patrolling is also unaffected, he said.
Main announced the change in a Facebook post on Tuesday night. The post prompted questions from the community about what that meant.
"We're still responding," Main said Wednesday.
The change will involve low-level incidents that have already taken place, he said. An example is if someone's identity is stolen. Credit card companies often require a complaint number to begin an investigation, Main said. A deputy can take that complaint over the phone rather than driving out to someone's house.
Another example might involve shoplifting in Union Township big-box retailers, which generates a large volume of the agency's calls. If an incident was discovered during a review of footage and doesn't involve a suspect actively stealing, the store can send footage via email and report it over the phone.
During a call, a deputy could also decide that an in-person visit is necessary.
There are two things driving the policy change. The first is gas prices, which breached the $5 a gallon threshold over the weekend.
Earlier this year, Main said they would need to keep an eye on the price of fuel after prices started increasing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that they might need to make adjustments if it continued. At the time, Main said that his office budgeted for fuel costs half of what they were in mid-March.
The sheriff's department has spent 96 percent of the money it's budgeted for fuel with the end of the fiscal year — Oct. 1 — still more than three months away.
"We knew we were going to go way over," he said.
Summer is also the agency's busiest time of year. On Tuesday, in fact, the county commission voted to approve an annual deal for the sheriff's office to provide lake patrolling for Lake Isabella.
Triaging calls so that low-level ones get a call instead of a live deputy is a way to mitigate the impact of high prices on the department's budget, he said.
The move comes at a time when the department is already down several deputies. Main discussed his staffing situation at Tuesday afternoon's work session of the Isabella County commission.
The agency was one of the first to receive pay increases during the implementation of a wage study, which helped with retention, Main told commissioners. Other local police agencies adjusted their own pay scales as a result.
Staffing isn't a cause of the change in how calls are being handled, Main said.
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