New Sheriff's Department member to help families connect with services
Sep. 27—PRINCETON — Starting Tuesday, a new member of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department will be ready to help connect people with the services they need when a family member faces incarceration or deals with an emergency such as an overdose.
The Mercer County Commission voted Friday during a special meeting to approve an agreement between Community Connections, Inc. and the commission to employ a social services coordinator to work in the sheriff's department. Commissioner Greg Puckett, who is Community Connection's executive director, recused himself from the vote.
County Commission President Gene Buckner and Commissioner Bill Archer voted in favor of the measure, which will be funded by a Marshall University grant.
"This new position is the service coordinator's position," Chief Deputy A.P. Christian said after the meeting. "It's fully grant funded by the University of Marshall."
Charles Truckenmiller, a former deputy with the sheriff's department, will start his new position as social services coordinator on Sept. 28. It will be a full-time position.
"He's got some degrees in the social aspects, and is actually a foster parent, so he's been dealing with kids his whole life. He'll be a real benefit to the program," Christian said.
Truckenmiller's job will be "to help the people who are left behind," Christian said. "Families of people who have overdosed or families of people who are incarcerated and need help, and don't know where to turn."
Aiding children the sheriff's department encounters while answering calls is another goal the program will address as well.
"Additionally, we're going to try and branch out into a program known as Handle With Care," Christian said. "If a child has been in a residence that's been subjected to some sort of trauma; what we will do, we will contact the schools and let them know this child has been in a traumatic situation and let teachers know that child should be handled with care in the following day or days."
Archer said the Handle With Care program could help protect young children from additional trauma.
"It's definitely a step forward to help kids in our county, and for me that's a big step forward," Buckner added.
Mercer County is the first to have this program.
"This is a pilot program. No one else in the state has started, so we're looking forward to try and set the standard here for the rest of the state," Christian said.
Besides aiding members of the public, having a social services coordinator will help free up deputies so they can focus more on their law enforcement duties, he added. The coordinator can assist a family involved in a case, allowing deputies to get back on the road.
"We'll be able to branch over into the mental hygiene aspect of it, too," Christian said. "Typically, our deputies are having to sit with a mental hygiene for hours on end while waiting for that process to come to fruition. He will be available to help with those issues also. The whole point is to free up our deputies to handle law enforcement calls while helping the community. We'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
The grant will cover the new position for three years.
"And after that we'll have to address some budgetary issues to see if we can make it a permanent position. By then, we should have enough data to see if it's beneficial to the community," Christian said.
Christian said that he and Sheriff Tommy Bailey worked hard to get the program.
"We thank Community Connections for helping us get this launched," he said.
The Marshall University grant is for approximately $46,550. Puckett said the program does not cost county taxpayers anything.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
