by Kathy Foster
Sheriff Crews received a warm welcome from the members of the Chipley Kiwanis Club on Tuesday and spent his time bringing the Kiwanians up-to-date on law enforcement activities around Washington County.
Praising his staff for the tremendous job he feels they do in protecting the people and property around Washington County, Crews said the men and women who work in law enforcement continuely put others before themselves.
Updating listeners on changes in the Sheriff’s Department over the past several years, Crews said the School Resource program in the department has grown from three deputies to seven, with one assigned to each of the public schools in the county.
He added that while the SWAT program is being reintroduced it is not fully implemented at this time, but added that there is a 12-person team currently in training. This program will include four drug squads and drug dogs.
Acknowledging that Washington County, as well as surrounding counties, face drug problems, Crews said drug arrest are up. However, he added that in his first year in office the department substantially cut the number of burglaries being experienced in the county through drug arrests.
Crews announced that the department will soon be instituting an Honor Guard involving deputies.
Crews also said he is pleased with the community involvement programs his department provides county residents – including the FarmShare program that disperses food items and the Christmas outreach that year provided more than 200 gifts to underprivileged children in the county.
Before closing, Crews warned the Kiwanians and the community about some of the various scams targeting county residents, including scams dealing with roofing and asking for money to get family members out of trouble. He asked that anyone knowing of county residents being taken-in by these scams to contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.