With the Callaway County Commission's approval of its 2015 budget, the sheriff's office and prosecuting attorney's office will increase their staffing.
The sheriff's office will add two more deputies to the force of 20 deputies and investigators. Clay Chism, an investigator with the Callaway County Sheriff's Office, said he's thankful the commission recognized the department's need for additional officers.
Deputies responded to 17,164 calls this year as of Tuesday. In 2009, they received 11,413 calls. That's a 34 percent difference, Chism said. Due to understaffing, he added officers tend to run from call to call, leaving little to no time to check up on earlier cases.
"An additional two officers is huge," Chism said. "It will allow for the department to better follow up on investigations and provide more patrol of the county."
Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson said the numbers from his office warranted another assistant
prosecuting attorney - bringing the total number of attorneys to four with Wilson and three assistants. The felony caseload for himself and his first assistant prosecuting attorney, Casey Clevenger, increased 50 percent each this year.
Wilson's office tried 917 felony cases and 4,160 misdemeanor cases in 2014 compared to 591 felony cases and 3,609 misdemeanors the year before. In addition to the numbers, Wilson contributed other factors as to why another assistant is necessary:
•Deputies increased usage of body cameras. Wilson said his staff is now reviewing video taken by sheriff's deputies, treating the footage as evidence. The prosecuting attorney's office receives video from officers interacting with victims, suspects or sometimes both, and multiple pieces of footage from a single incident can take a considerable amount of time to watch, Wilson said.
•More successful prosecutions of domestic violence offenders. Four years ago, Callaway County was awarded a grant to pay for the hourly-wage of a domestic violence officer. Matthew Palmer with the sheriff's office has held that position, putting more domestic violent offenders behind bars.
•Law change regarding sex offenders. The Missouri Supreme Court decided a year ago that new laws can apply to convicted criminals whose offense occurred prior to the law. The court sided against three male sex offenders who faced new charges after a 2009 Missouri law passed that made it illegal for them and other convicted sex offenders to be within 500 feet of a public park with playground equipment or a public swimming pool, according to the Associated Press. Wilson said the change caused a "flood gate" of cases that his office was able to prosecute.
•SORTS assaults. In August, a Missouri law became effective that changed a misdemeanor assault to a felony for those in the Fulton State Hospital's Sexual Offender and Rehabilitation and Treatment Service program. Prior to the law, assaults that took place inside SORTS were considered misdemeanors under the legal definition of a serious injury, Wilson said. Trying someone in SORTS for felony assault was difficult, he said, although it was accomplished with more violent cases. Unlike other FSH patients, Wilson said SORTS patients are considered mentally competent and they can be tried for assaults on employees and patients alike. SORTS patients who are prosecuted will serve time in the Department of Corrections or the Callaway County Jail and then go back to the Fulton State Hospital for completion of that program.