At Monday night’s Citizens Academy the attendees got to see and hear first hand experience from Chief Shane Dyson. Dyson presented all kinds of statistics and information from speeding, to body cameras. The amount of processing and paperwork that goes into documenting incidents can be quite staggering. Since 1976 the cruiser vehicle vinyl has only changed 3 times. Dyson also explained that the new cruisers will not have cameras built in since they are very expensive, at $5000 each, and the body cameras already give a more detailed view from the officers perspective. In Paulding County there are 419 Square miles that must be patrolled. There are usually two road deputes on duty at any time. In 2018 there were 5737 Service Requests, 249 Felony and Misdemeanor Adults arrests, 280 Traffic Crash Investigations, 42 K-9 deployments, 863 Traffic Stops, 291 Citations.
With the crimes of the county, including the murders and bank robbers over the last several years, it has put much more of a burden on the officers. Which led to the second presenter: Brion Hanenkratt.
Brion Hanenkratt was a substitute teacher who decided that teaching was not for him. In 2001-2002 he attended Police Academy, and then became a full time deputy in 2003. In 2013, he was promoted as Lieutenant by Sheriff Landers. In 2017, Landers determined it was necessary to have a full time Crime Scene Investigator. Brion was the person Jason thought of to take this newly created position. Having a full time CSI agent relieves the deputies while having a person specialized for the task.
In 2018, Hanenkratt received advanced training at the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy.
Brion Hanenkratt methodically demonstrated from the beginning to the end of what all goes into an investigation. He emphasized the importance of doing as little as possible to introduce contamination into a scene, recording the scene in three different sets of investigation circles: from outside, inside, and destructive. “There is no ‘right’ way to process a scene. However, there are ‘wrong’ ways to process a scene.” stated Brion. The presentation was very informative and with answering the attendees questions, it made for a night worth remembering at the Citizens Academy!
Each Monday night through October 28 there is a new presentation about this important force in the county, in conjunction with the Paulding County Vision Board. Each session begins at the Paulding-Putnam Electric Coop’s Meeting Room.
